‘Hands off our Apple jobs’ - Fianna Fáil warns Cameron

The British government needs to sort out its own tax situation before it starts criticising Ireland, the Dáil has heard.

In a sharp attack on British prime minister David Cameron, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said Mr Cameron was “completely out of order at the Conservative party conference to have a cut off Ireland”.

Mr Martin said: “All prime minister Cameron wants is our jobs. He wants the 166,000 jobs that are in this country. He wants them in the United Kingdom. He wants Apple Computers in the United Kingdom.”

The Fianna Fáil leader claimed anti-inversion laws in the US were motivated by British moves on taxation in recent times.

He said “the British government needs to look at its own house before it starts lecturing Ireland”.

Mr Martin said to Taoiseach Enda Kenny: “I hope you’ll give that message to prime minister Cameron in no uncertain terms.”

Mr Cameron in a TV interview criticised what he called the “double Irish” and the filtering of profits “through other low tax or no tax regimes. That is now being cracked down on and about time too”.

Mr Kenny pointed out that the Government had “clearly very good relationships with the British prime minister” and he noted that the Conservative party conference was taking place.

Mr Martin was speaking during a row about double taxation agreements, which were passed in the Dáil without debate.

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins criticised the passage without debate of agreements on double taxation relief (taxes on income) with the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Botswana and the Kingdom of Denmark.

Mr Higgins questioned why the agreements were being passed when the European commission was investigating Ireland’s tax agreements with Apple, and said they could amount to illegal State aid.

But Mr Martin called for a “dose of realism” to the debate. He said “it’s a commission opinion. There’s a long road to travel. Let’s not just accept everything with absolute acquiescence,” he urged.

Mr Kenny said these matters were discussed at the finance committee last week and agreed without a vote. The Taoiseach said Ireland had 71 double taxation agreements.

Decisions had to be made on what the best option was, he said. “The Minister for Finance is considering that very, very carefully indeed.”

Mr Kenny added that whatever global decisions were made about taxation “we still have exceptional opportunities in terms of our talent pool and our track record”.