Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fail and some independents turned off the cameras and voted down a PBP motion in the Finance committee calling for Apple to be brought in and questioned about its tax affairs.
Forensic examination of the tax affairs of all companies that benefitted from the “double-Irish” needed
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, and Finance spokesperson for the People Before Profit Alliance, reacting to the EU ruling on Ireland’s tax treatment of Apple, has said the ruling confirms what People Before Profit have been saying for a number of years, that “the entire political establishment have colluded over many years with Apple in an act of economic treason with to rob the Irish public of €13 billion or more in desperately needed cash for public housing, the health service and other vital public services.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett pointed out that in the last Dail he put down a motion to a special sub-committee of the Finance committee, calling for Apple to be brought into the committee to answer questions about its tax affairs in Ireland, and that Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fail banded together, voting to turn offthe camera’s during the discussion of the motion and then voted down the motion.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said, “The closing of rank f the entire political establishment to protect Apple’s tax avoidance strategies and to aid them was effectively “economic treason” against the citizens of the country.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett said that “to appeal the EU ruling rather than collect the €13 billion in owed taxes from Apple would be to continue the economic treason committed by the political establishment against the citizens of this country – particularly those who are homeless and poor, those suffering the dire crisis in our health service or young people suffering from the chronic lack of funding and investment in our education system.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett said the government should “abandon their disgraceful plans to waste more public money appealing the EU ruling and instead collect the taxes from Apple that they owe the people of this country.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett concluded saying, that in his opinion “Apple were not the only company that benefited from a systematic policy pursued by successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fail led government’s to facilitate aggressive tax avoidance and outright tax evasion by some of the biggest and most profitable corporations in the world.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett called for a “forensic investigation of the tax affairs of all the companies based in Ireland, who benefitted from the so-called “double-Irish” tax scam.”
Please Note: Motion submitted Thursday 27th June 10.34am
Motion to Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
From Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett
“That the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform sub-committee on Global Corporate/Multi-national Taxation Architecture, shall as part of its terms of reference, invite into the committee to give testimony and answer questions, representatives of multinational corporations based here in Ireland, including representatives of Apple, Google, Facebook and other such corporations as the sub committee may deem appropriate”.
