TAXATION ISSUES in the US would have to be addressed regardless of who had won the presidential election, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said. Questions were raised about the potential impact on Ireland of possible changes in the tax regime for American multinationals.
Mr Cowen said that "while I accept that things are said in campaign speeches, I do not minimise the import of what has been said. I do not wish to draw conclusions which may be adverse to our interests, as to do so would be to take a leap too far".
Later, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said suggestions that the new administration of president-elect Barack Obama would seek to make changes in corporation taxes that could affect Ireland would have to be taken "step by step".
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr Obama had made "comments about the taxation system in America and the consequences for American firms with investments abroad.
He asked if the Taoiseach was concerned at the president-elect's comments and would he "convey to him our concerns in this regard or is there ongoing contact on the matter".
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said that Mr Obama had spelled out in some detail his thinking on the taxation regime for companies investing overseas, in a bid to keep jobs in the US.
"If he were to proceed along those lines, is the Taoiseach suggesting corresponding measures could be taken here in respect of the taxation regime for Irish companies investing in the US?" He also asked if the traditional event in the White House and a meeting with Mr Obama on St Patrick's Day had been confirmed: "Are we still operating on the basis of hope?" "Not yet but I inquired," said Mr Cowen.
"I am not suggesting for a moment that we would take actions that would be regarded as in any way hostile to US investment in Ireland. It would not be in our national interests to do so," the Taoiseach stressed.
Mr Gilmore said: "I did not make any such suggestion."
Mr Cowen told him that regardless of which candidate won, the US "has a budgetary issue because a serious deficit has arisen".
During foreign affairs questions Mr Martin said: "regarding the suggestion that the new administration may seek to disincentivise companies moving overseas in terms of deferral tax, subsidiaries and other means, we must take this step by step. We must also be aware that such a policy change would require legislative input and we would obviously engage in making our position known to Congress and to public representatives there."
He told Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins that "the reason many multinationals go overseas is to win market share in big trading blocs. American multinationals come to Europe to win market share in Europe."
There was an interdependency, he said. "The system is now a global one and is not that easily disassembled."
