Noonan: Ireland's reputation damaged by false information about taxes

The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, said Ireland's reputation abroad has been damaged by "misinformation" about our corporate tax rate.

Noonan was taking questions from TDs at the Finance Committee meeting this morning, during which the subject of the "Double-Irish" loophole was raised.

The Minister said no "one small country" can change the tax practices of international companies, but said Ireland's tax policies are "transparent."

A Trinity College paper earlier this week claimed that multinationals only paid tax of 2.2% in Ireland in 2011.

Minister Noonan said that is not the case, and Ireland's reputation abroad is suffering because of the reports.

"Now we have a very clear transparent system, but we took some reputational damage through misinformation."

"Now, I moved in the last Finance Bill to deal with the issue of companies incorporated in Ireland who aren't liable for tax anywhere - we moved to correct that."