I move:
That the Sub-Committee on Global Taxation may invite, if it sees it as appropriate, and after hearing from the OECD, the Department of Finance, the Revenue Commissioners and the Minister for Finance, and the other named individuals discussed at the Sub-Committee on Global Taxation meeting of 26 June, other witnesses before the committee.
In November 2012, in a formal proposal to this joint committee, I requested that it examine the issue of multinational corporation tax and the fact that some multinational companies were not paying the appropriate level of corporation tax. Members subsequently have witnessed investigations or hearings in both Britain and the United States and in particular, the damaging reference in the United States in which this State was named as a tax haven, together with countries such as Bermuda, which has been damaging to our reputation. However, it does not deflect from the imperative that this issue must be discussed in our own home territory, where these companies are incorporated. It took six months for the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform to deal with the proposal I made in November and to agree to examine this issue.
It has been my clear intention, which I never kept from the joint committee, that as part of this, members should invite multinationals to appear before the sub-committee to seek their views on where Ireland sits in respect of multinational corporation tax. It is my clear view that the sub-committee to be established and which met for the first time last week, should not be barred from asking the multinational companies to appear before it and to provide information or evidence as to their perception of the corporation tax rule in the State. However, from the previous meetings and discussions it is clear that a number of members of this joint committee wish at all costs to avoid seeing the multinational companies appear before the sub-committee, including companies such as Apple and Google, which have been named in international hearings. It would discredit this committee's work to invite, as members have agreed at the sub-committee meeting, 17 different individuals, four from what one might call State groups, namely, the OECD, the Department of Finance, the Minister for Finance and the Revenue Commissioners, as well as 13 or 14 academics, without asking a single multinational corporation. Members must remember that some of these multinational corporations, such as, for example, Apple Operations International, have been named and in the case of the latter, has given evidence voluntarily to a Senate committee in the United States that for four years, it recorded profits of €29.9 billion, which equates to 30% of Apple's entire global profits. It is incorporated in Ireland and does not pay a single cent of tax in this State or in any other jurisdiction internationally. Moreover, it employs no one in this State.
As for having a discussion that will take a number of weeks, possibly a number of months, to deal with this issue without asking any multinational company to come before it, I note the amendment to my motion seeks to have the committee finish its work and make a report and thereafter have a discussion or possible recommendation that witnesses be brought in at a later stage. It is my view, from listening to members of this joint committee, that they wish at all costs to avoid having the likes of Apple, Google or Facebook appearing before the committee. However, this would be folly for members and would discredit the type of work they are doing. If Apple is willing to come before the United States Senate and if other companies are willing to attend hearings in Britain, members should be willing to request, if it is deemed appropriate by the sub-committee, such companies to appear before them and answer questions as to whether they consider the corporation tax laws in this State and internationally to be appropriate or whether they are using the corporation tax rules to create bigger dividends for their shareholders at the expense of the Exchequer here.
Consequently, I wish to push my motion and feel very passionate about this issue. As stated previously, I raised the original motion more than seven months ago and setting up this type of sub-committee with a bar on its ability to invite multinational companies before it makes no sense or logic to me at present. Members should not be afraid of asking questions as these corporations are major entities. I do not single out Apple, although it has been singled out in the United States Senate. Other corporations, which are not availing of such loopholes, should also be invited to appear before the sub-committee to seek their views. However, these corporations have more revenue than does the entire State and their means are greater than those of this State. They are big enough and well capable of appearing before a hearing of the sub-committee to answer questions on evidence they have given, which is already in the public domain, in the United States Senate.
Other companies, which are complying completely with the laws - as is Apple because the laws allow it to do this - also should be invited to explain to members of the sub-committee their view, from a multinational's perspective, of how Ireland's corporation tax rules sit with them. It is fine and well to have the State bodies and the academics here to give their views but the missing piece of the jigsaw concerns the multinational corporations. A refusal to do this sends out a terrible signal, both domestically and internationally, that we do not wish to deal with the issues that have been raised at an international level. Moreover, not only is this issue being raised in the United States and Britain but it also is being raised by senior officials and Ministers in the Australian Parliament and has been referenced right across the globe.
