Where would the country be without big tech and big pharma?
It is the question that surely fuels the nightmares of many of Ireland’s political leaders.
The answer is an exchequer that would be missing out on many billions of euro in corporation tax receipts and thousands of people in need of different jobs.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Ireland’s long-standing strategy of seeking foreign direct investment, the importance of multinationals to the country’s continued economic wellbeing is clear.
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A new report by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) has warned that a heavy reliance on a limited number of companies for a substantial tax take “carries significant risk”.
As Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports on the front page, just three companies – technology groups Apple and Microsoft and pharma group Eli Lilly – were responsible for almost half the corporation tax collected by the State in 2024.
The Ifac report estimates that the three US multinationals paid 46 per cent – or about €13 billion – of the €28.1 billion collected that year.
While the budgetary watchdog does not name the companies involved, publicly available financial statements indicate that iPhone maker Apple paid approximately €5.8 billion in corporate tax here in 2024.
This was alongside the €14 billion it paid as a result of its high-profile tax battle with the European Commission.
Separate accounts show Apple’s tech rival Microsoft, which employs about 6,400 people in Ireland, paid approximately €4.8 billion in tax here in 2024.
Eli Lilly, which manufactures the ingredients for its top-selling weight loss drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro in Ireland, paid about €2.2 billion.
Ifac notes that corporation tax here almost doubled between 2021 and 2024, “largely driven by increased payments from the top three payers”. However, it warns that as “corporation tax revenues become more concentrated, they also become more risky”.
“Future receipts could be much higher or lower than current levels,” the budgetary watchdog says.
On a positive note, it says the two highest-paying tech companies continue to perform strongly.
The council also notes that Ireland appears to be a key manufacturing base for the active ingredient used to make hugely popular weight-loss and diabetes medicines.
The Government is, of course, well aware of the risks.
In his last budget speech as minister for finance, Paschal Donohoe spoke of volatility in corporation tax receipts and said “we know over-reliance is a risk”.
He cited this as one reason the Coalition was continuing to put money aside in two long-term savings funds – set to reach €40 billion by the end of the current Government’s term.
Regardless of these funds, Government Buildings will still be hoping the market for iPhones and weight-loss drugs remains strong.
Best Reads
In our lead story today, Shauna Bowers and Marie O’Halloran report that more than 200 children being treated by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) in north Kerry were at risk of potential harm, according to an independent review. The Health Service Executive published a look-back review into the service, which raised concerns about high rates of prescribing of medication and low rates of therapeutic intervention. The report, conducted by Dr Colette Halpin, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, examined the care of 374 children who were active on the north Kerry Camhs team database in November 2022. Of these, 209 cases – 56 per cent – were found to be at risk of potential for harm.
Private drivers should be allowed to provide taxi services using their own cars through platforms such as Uber to combat shortages in the industry, the consumer watchdog has said.
Colin Gleeson reports that new research from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has found a supply shortage in the taxi sector, as four in 10 people who tried to get a taxi in December reported difficulties in doing so. Companies such as Uber do currently operate in Dublin, but regulations mean they can only act as a booking agent for licensed taxi drivers, rather than work as a ride-hailing service. With a “significant share” of taxi users wanting the choice of ride-hailing (49 per cent), the CCPC has called for the removal of regulatory barriers to facilitate “entry of these services”.
The Government is under pressure to clarify future special needs assistant (SNA) allocations as it insists there will be no “cliff edge” for schools facing cuts, Jack Horgan-Jones and Marie O’Halloran report. Minister of State with responsibility for special education Michael Moynihan told The Irish Times on Wednesday that any reduction will be a “gradual coming off”, adding: “We can’t have a cliff edge”. However, the Opposition is demanding the Coalition outline the next steps after it paused a review of SNA allocations that saw almost 200 schools notified that some of their assistant roles would be reduced.
Legislation to ban social media access for under-16s is not being prepared by Government, which will instead consult the EU and “like-minded countries” to promote measures that may keep children off the online platforms. Pat Leahy and Marie O’Halloran report.
There have been calls for an urgent review of the law underpinning the office of Ireland’s only directly elected mayor in Limerick amid the row between the office holder, John Moran, and councillors. Moran said on Wednesday he is still working with councillors from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and: “This is not the siege of Limerick or something like that with the mayor holed up in his office.”
On Wednesday’s Inside Politics podcast Hugh Linehan and Fintan O’Toole discuss the question of what would fascism look like in the 2020s?
Playbook
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke is due to take parliamentary questions in the Dáil from 8.47am.
Next up is Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley at 10.24am.
Leaders’ Questions is at noon.
Government business in the afternoon (from 1.52pm) includes statements on recent flooding incidents.
TDs have an opportunity to raise topical issues from 5.24pm.
A Sinn Féin motion on the establishment of a Commission on the Future of the Family Farm is to be debated from 6.24pm.
The Seanad is scheduled to continue its debate on the Government’s legislation aimed at bringing reforms to the rental market from 11.45am.
Representatives of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation and the National Parent’s Council are due at the Committee on Education from 9.30am to discuss the new primary school curriculum.
Officials from the Department of Justice will be before the Public Accounts Committee (Pac) from 10.30am to be quizzed on various issues including the management of international protection accommodation contracts and cybersecurity. Martin Wall has a tee-up story setting out how the Pac will be told that the cost of providing accommodation for people fleeing the war in Ukraine has reduced by more than half since 2024.
The full schedule can be found here.
