Ireland a ‘doormat state’

While Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton has insisted that the Irish tax regime is transparent, tax campaigners accused Ireland of being a ‘doormat’ state while academics claimed that up to 150,000 jobs could be jeopardised by Apple’s tax practices.

Mr Bruton claimed that Ireland was being scapegoated by other countries, when what is really needed is a united approach to tackle tax avoidance.

“Seeking to try and scapegoat individual countries is not the solution to this and I think we need to cooperate in bodies like the OECD to make sure we have a balanced approach to this to deal with harmful activities. Anything that we do is entirely above board and transparent,” Mr Bruton told Pat Kenny’s radio show.