IN A rare public comment on his tax status, billionaire businessman JP McManus has insisted he is doing the State “more good” by earning his fortune abroad.
Speaking in Limerick at the weekend, Mr McManus hit back at critics of tax exiles who say successful business people are not doing their patriotic duty by paying their taxes in Ireland.
“I didn’t leave the country in order to avoid paying a tax, or to avoid paying a future tax that was about to come down the line. I paid my taxes and I set up a business abroad,” he said.
The Co Limerick native, who is now a tax resident of Switzerland, was visibly annoyed after being asked about his contribution to Ireland during its worst recession in history.
Mr McManus, whose golf pro- am alone has raised more than €95 million for midwest charities, insisted he was proud to be Irish and that he was improving the State by spending his money here.
“If I was somebody who set up a business abroad and it didn’t go so well I’d be considered an emigrant; if it goes well I’m considered an exile.
“Now, what do they want? Do they want you to come back and try and support the local economy, try to earn some money abroad and then put it in the local economy? That’s what I like to do.
“I consider myself Irish. I’m proud to be Irish and I think I’m doing the country more good by being abroad, trying to earn a few quid. If I bring it back and decide to spend it whatever way I like here, at least I’m improving the economy,” he added.
Mr McManus made the rare comment on his tax status at the University of Limerick, where 125 students were awarded scholarships under the 2011 All-Ireland Scholarships.
Sponsored by Mr McManus, the educational scheme provides financial assistance to high-achieving students who have just completed their Leaving Certificate or A-level examinations.
Under the programme, each student receives a bursary of €6,750 a year at college; so far 1,300 students have benefited from the scholarship trust.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said at the event the programme was possible because of Mr McManus’s initiative, from which others in similar circumstances could take example. “These scholarships happen because of the initiative of JP McManus. He is doing that as an example of how others who have made their way through life can help their country and more people.”
When asked whether tax exiles should be forced to pay more given the current economic crisis, Mr Kenny said no government could dictate where people lived and paid their taxes.
“You have free movement of people within the EU and around the world and obviously people pay their taxes where they earn them. I have long spoken about people’s patriotism in this way before. You can’t dictate where people live and there are arrangements from that point of view for those who don’t live here.”
Among the special guests invited to Saturday’s event was dancer Michael Flatley, who revealed he had not been able to afford to go to college when younger. “I never made it to university, I didn’t have the funding so I’m incredibly impressed with JP McManus, needless to say.
“He’s one of the most generous men I think I’ve ever met and he must be congratulated on what he’s doing . . . cultivating the future of this great country,” he said.
Flatley said recent rumours that he was planning to sell his Castlehyde Estate in Co Cork were “untrue”. He said he loved coming back to Ireland, adding: “I wish I could spend more time here.”
The American-born dancer said he knew Mr McManus for many years from Barbados and described him as a dear friend “and a man I deeply admire”.