Sir, – The Bullingdon Club in Oxford is said to have required prospective members to set fire to a £50 note in front of a homeless person as an initiation ritual.
While the decision by our leaders figuratively to burn €13 billion in the faces of the country’s 6,000 homeless people may be controversial, it can rest assured that it has proven beyond doubt its eligibility to join the Bullingdon Club. – Yours, etc,
OSAL KELLY
Delgany, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – The European Commission, which Fine Gael worships as if it were a modern-day Roman senate, has found the global tech company Apple owes Ireland €13 billion in unpaid taxes. Instead of being delighted about this, the Government is going to challenge this finding in the courts, stating that Apple does not owe this money to the State, as accepting this finding or the billions of euro would somehow force a compromise and an open admission that there may have been a beneficial tax arrangement set up between Ireland and Apple which led us to this mess.
Now, if the State does decide to challenge this finding, will the Irish people foot the bill of lawyers, barristers, accountancy firms and any other consultants needed to build a case for us turning down this glorious windfall?
Once again, on top of turning down the chance to boost the State coffers and rebuild confidence in social services and reduce the horrible inequality that exists in Ireland, this Government will again take public money and give it to the professional classes to defend the indefensible. – Yours, etc,
DARREN WILLIAMS,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – In principle, the EU prohibits member states from using state resources (ie our money) to confer an advantage on any business or sector that could distort competition and affect trade between the member states. The objective of this ban is twofold. First of all, it is designed to prevent inefficient enterprises from gaining an advantage that can act as a barrier to other more efficient firms that wish to compete in the same sector. This is the bread-and-butter of competition law. What distinguishes state aid is that the European Commission is examining the anti-competitive behaviour of states rather than private enterprises, and in this respect the measure has a second objective – to prevent governments from using the money entrusted to them by the taxpayer to give an undeserved benefit to private actors.
Enterprises and academics often overlook this aspect of the ban on state aid and criticise the fact that it is the recipient that is punished, through the obligation to repay the aid, rather than the state which introduced the measure in the first place.
Multinationals such as Apple complain that they simply accepted terms that were given to them by Irish governments and that EU law does not give it the power to notify a measure to the European Commission first so that it can ensure it is acceptable. This hardly washes in Apple’s case. Not only did the company and its lawyers accept the risk the policy was state aid, they aggressively pursued this agreement. If Ireland hadn’t acquiesced, they would have leaned on another state to look the other way.
Of course, our Government shouldn’t have broken the law but the money it gave away wasn’t its to spend – it was ours. The victim here is the Irish people. And just because we were wronged by those that were supposed to represent us does not mean we are not entitled to reparation. By examining the agreement, the European Commission was making sure the Government was doing its job – acting in the interests of the public, rather than that of one business. This is what makes Michael Noonan’s statement so disturbing and the current Government’s stance so shameful.
Fine Gael has been presented with a perfect opportunity to free itself from the shady agreement of its predecessor, and to distance itself from that school of behaviour, sending a strong statement that during its term the interests of the many will come first.
Apple is the one that got the windfall and it is only time it gave it back. Instead it has taken ownership of the inherited deal and is doing everything it can to save it. Its willingness to take the issue to the European Court of Justice is a chilling display of where loyalties lie. If it wins, all such stunts will in future be beyond the reach of EU law, and even the European Commission won’t be able to step in and stop them.
First a windfall for Apple, then a golden ticket. – Yours, etc,
MARY CATHERINE
NAUGHTON,
Barcelona, Spain.
Sir, – Anyone for a smidgen of Apple turnover? Or is to be slice of tarte au citron instead? – Yours, etc,
CLARE BALFE,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – The patronising EU’s decision to overrule Ireland’s own business-friendly tax system with its draconian decision on Apple shows that it has a contempt for sovereignty and a disdain for freedom. The Irish are a proud people and a free nation and should follow the United Kingdom out of the corrupt EU. – Yours, etc,
PETER BOOTH,
Manchester.
Sir, – Nice of the Government to stick up for the rights of one of the richest and most miserly companies in the world. I hope Apple chief executive Tim Cook reciprocates by buying everyone in Ireland a leprechaun outfit. – Yours, etc,
P O’RIORDAN,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Surely not the European Commission but our own Irish tax authorities would be pursuing me if I owed the State billions in tax? – Yours, etc,
MICHIEL DROST,
Glasnevin, Dublin 11.
Sir, – Ireland’s corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent applies to all companies, both indigenous and multinational operating out of Ireland; however, it is widely accepted that large multinational companies are paying as little as 1 per cent to 2 per cent on profits earned or routed through Ireland for the express purpose of minimising tax liability in their home countries.
This facility of minimising tax liability through creative tax avoidance is not available to Irish companies nor indeed to Irish taxpayers. Indeed, Revenue publishes a list of tax defaulters every quarter with defaulters found liable for up to three times their liability when fines and interest are added on.
It is high time that all corporations operating out of Ireland were obliged to pay the very favourable tax rate of 12.5 per cent. It is an indictment of successive Irish governments that it took the European Commission to initiate this process. – Yours, etc,
PETER LEMASS,
Athlone, Co Roscommon.
Sir, – I read with interest the findings by the European Commission that will probably mean that Apple owes the Irish State “billions of euro” in back taxes. I have a suggestion. Since Apple in Ireland is based in Cork and since Cork badly needs a motorway link to its closest city, Limerick, why not allocate the back taxes to its immediate construction? The new road could be named for Apple, with appropriate signage along the route acknowledging such an immense contribution. It would be a win-win for Apple and the people of Cork and Limerick. The current Dublin Government would sooner fund motorway construction through Galway and Mayo rather than high population areas where they are actually needed, so why not use this windfall to fill a gap that our so-called “national” Government is unwilling to address? – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL McEVOY,
Newton, Massachusetts.
Sir, – Although many in Ireland would like to see us as the 51st state of the US, we are members of the EU. If €13 billion were invested in housing, tourism, agriculture and fisheries, it would be a life-changing sum, not an insubstantial, ethereal political football. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse, Dublin 24.
Sir, – Michael Noonan need not worry. The Irish taxpayer won’t see a cent of that money. Apple has the most ruthless lobbying system in corporate America. Stuck for someone to give him some public-speaking tips before appearing in front of a US Senate committee investigating Apple’s tax affairs, its chief executive Tim Cook turned to his old pal Bill Clinton, who obliged with some helpful advice. With long-term beneficiary of corporate largesse Hillary Clinton in the White House, the European Commission won’t even dare to look sideways at Apple. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL McMAHON,
Dublin 12.
Sir, – €13 billion? That’s €2,732.25 for every man, woman and child in the Republic of Ireland. Be a good lad, Michael, and send it out to us in time for Christmas. – Yours, etc,
PETER SHAUGHNESSY,
Greystones, Co Wicklow.