Taoiseach vows to stand firm on corporation tax

ENDA KENNY insisted he would not surrender to the EU over Ireland’s corporation tax rate as he used his first Leaders’ Questions as Taoiseach to pledge a thorough probe of the banking crisis would expose those responsible.

Mr Kenny agreed with opposition leader Micheál Martin that the attempt by the French and German leaders to marry Dublin’s demand for a renegotiation of the bailout deal to a rise in business levies was a “classic try-on”.

The Taoiseach said he was minded to support a cross-party motion on the tax rate muted by Mr Martin in what was a largely amicable first exchange between the two leaders.