Corporation tax certainty starting to crumble - FF

Ireland's certainty around corporation tax is "beginning to crumble" because of changes Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has made to the regime, Fianna Fáil has claimed.

The party’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath sharply criticised the move and said the Minister had pre-empted the process across the EU about corporation tax.

Mr McGrath told Mr Noonan: “I really hope Minister that the Irish football team in Gelsenkirchen tonight show a lot more resistance to German pressure than you did on corporation tax.”

By pre-empting the process the Minister had introduced uncertainty to Ireland’s corporation tax regime “and that’s risky”, he said.

As Mr Noonan interrupted to disagree with him the Fianna Fáil spokesman said “I know it’s a touchy subject for you because I know you’re very nervous about this announcement”.

He said: “You have made a change here that does affect the offering that Ireland is making in respect of corporation tax. I worry about that Minister because it does introduce uncertainty.”

Changes the Minister made include abolishing the ability of companies to use the so-called ’double Irish’ by changing our residency rules to require all companies registered in Ireland to also be tax resident.

Ireland was under huge pressure from the EU and as were the Dutch but they had told international authorities “”we’ll be making no changes until the process is complete”.

Mr McGrath added: “In my view Minister what you have done is a mistake and that certainty which we have built around our corporation tax offering is beginning to crumble and multinationals are looking at where to invest.”

He said multinational companies were looking at the UK, which was “stepping up its game” and introducing a so-called patent box, an incentive that reduces tax on profits from patents that companies have.

They were looking at what Britain was doing and at Ireland “shivering under pressure from Europe and others and making a change before there is any international consensus on where this direction is going.

“And that for me is a mistake. We should do it in step with other countries. But you have chosen otherwise.”

Later the Dáil heard that the health estimates were the "big hole" in the budget. Fianna Fáil public expenditure and reform spokesman Sean Fleming said the Government was planning to increase health spending by 1.6 over three years.

The additions included savings measuring €130 million and income generation of €330 million, which he said would involve charging A & E patients with insurance €400 whether they were waiting on a trolley or a chair.

He said a person had to read the small print to discover that the detail of the estimates would not be revealed for some months.

He said for the third year in a row Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin had introduced health estimates in each of the last three years in the Budget which had not lasted the test of 12 months.

It was a black hole of €460 million “and you will not tell us how it’s going to be filled”.

Mr Fleming claimed the previous minister for health had “got the best of you and the new Minister has too”.