Cowen 'presumed' his Minister responded to Sarkozy tax attack

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen told the Dáil he “presumed” Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche had responded to the attack by French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Ireland’s corporation tax rate.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore had claimed on Tuesday that “nobody is minding the shop” while Fianna Fáil sorted out its internal problems because he had heard nobody respond to President Sarkozy’s comments that Ireland could not benefit from the EU’s financial aid while maintaining its low tax rate.

Mr Cowen told him that Mr Roche had responded to the French president’s comments.

Mr Gilmore said yesterday, however, that “I cannot find his response on the Government website. By what means did he make the response? Was it directly to President Sarkozy or a minister in his government? Was it in writing?

“Is there a statement somewhere which refers to it? If so, can he direct me to that?”

The Taoiseach replied: “I was informed as I rose to reply to Deputy Gilmore yesterday that the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, had issued a statement. I presume he did. I do not have the details, but I will obtain the statement for the Deputy and send it to him.”

Mr Cowen stressed that President Sarkozy was “reiterating a position which has been mentioned in other quarters apart from what was picked up by the media recently.

“I also stated that I made our position clear at the European Council meeting and put it on the record. The president knows directly from me what is our position on this matter since we discussed it at a round-table dinner session of the council when the question of what work would be ongoing within the euro group regarding growth, stability and currency issues generally in the euro area was discussed.”

The Taoiseach said the Minister for Finance had reiterated on “numerous occasions our commitment to maintaining our 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate, including at the time of the EU-ECB- IMF funding negotiations.

“I strongly defended our position in this regard at last month’s European Council, and will continue to do so.

“It is the cornerstone of our industrial policy and an essential feature of our future growth strategy. This has also been emphasised to EU authorities on many different occasions, and we are clear that this is the position under the EU treaties.”

He added: “There is no evidence that imposing a higher corporate tax rate would sustain higher revenues or contribute in any way to restoring balance to the public finances.”