In recent years, Ireland has faced growing allegations that it operates as a tax haven for a host of multinational corporations. These charges appeared to have been borne out in the summer of 2016 when the European Commission disclosed that Apple – the company with the largest cash reserves in the world – was paying a mere 0.005 per cent tax on the vast profits that it funnels through shell companies in the Irish Republic. The controversies surrounding the Apple deal would be instrumental in forcing an evidently reluctant Irish government into signing up to a new global agreement stipulating a minimum corporation tax rate of 15 per cent. Does the advent of the OECD deal signal the end of the notoriously favourable fiscal arrangements that the Irish state has struck with multinational capital over several decades?
In this public event, Kieran Allen and Brian O’Boyle, authors of the newly published Tax Haven Ireland, will be joined by Mary Cosgrove and Sorley McCaughey to examine the tax strategies that Ireland has adopted to date and how these are evolving in the face of growing international scrutiny. It promises to be an engaging evening of discussion on one of the most critical issues of social justice facing Ireland, and indeed the wider world, today. Everyone welcome.
Speakers:
Kieran Allen (UCD)
Mary Cosgrove (NUI Galway)
Sorley McCaughey (Human Act)
Brian O’Boyle (St Angela’s, Sligo)
Chair: Colin Coulter (MU)
Hosted by Maynooth University Social Science Institute, MU Sociology Department, & RIFT (Research in Ireland for Transformation)