Government quizzed over tax

The Government is turning down the opportunity to raise an extra €700m a year from trading financial services on the advice of the banking and hedge fund industry, according to information from the Department of Finance.

Labour MEP Nessa Childers asked the Government to say what external groups they dealt with in relation to a Financial Transaction Tax proposal from the EU.

She received hundreds of pages of emails, letters and documents dealing with the issue as discussed between government departments and the industry.