Carol Nolan TD has accused the government of “selling out” Ireland to our “EU masters” by raising the country’s corporation tax rate, which she said was a disgrace to the leaders of 1916.
The comments were made in the Dáil yesterday by the Independent deputy during a debate on the new annual Budget.
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“[I would like to] raise the severe defeat for Ireland in regard to our 12.5% rate of corporation tax,” the Laois-Offaly TD said.
“That loss is conservatively estimated to be in the region of €2 billion annually to the economy. But, of course, that is just the beginning.
“Almost as important as the fact we have lost something vital to our national interests when it comes to the public finances, this is a loss of any kind of meaningful sovereignty in the context of determining the shape and form of our taxation policies.”
The deputy went on to describe the idea of “EU solidarity” as “a total fiction.”
“International solidarity and respect for the right of sovereign nations to determine legitimate taxation policies has been shown to be a myth,” she said.
“In recent weeks, Ireland has been strong-armed into surrendering the jewel in the crown of its foreign direct investment policy and I am very concerned about that.”
The deputy said that while the government had tried to paint the corporation tax change as a win for Ireland, “it is far from that.”
“That is the kind of apologetic tone and shrinking regard for the destructive views of other nations’ political and economic interests that has just lost us billions of euro in potential revenue,” she said.
“This will trickle down to the ordinary people in the shape of a loss of service supports, a loss of funding and a more uncertain economic future for their children.”
Nolan argued that the government “seems determined” to disrupt native businesses in rural Ireland, which made the corporation tax hike “all the more difficult to understand.”
She stated that sectors such as forestry, horticulture, farming, agrifood production, and the agricultural merchant sector were being hammered by ”the interpretation of EU regulations that, as usual, the Government and the Attorney General seem to go over and beyond to appease our EU masters,” which she dubbed as “selling out our country.”
“The Government is not standing up for the people,” she said.
“It is a disgrace and it is shameful to the legacy of the leaders of 1916, who fought for the freedom of this country.”