Opinion

Women’s Council wants action and urgency from government on gender quotas, abortion, violence and childcare-equality

What does “left” mean today now that socialism is no longer on offer?

Democracy and globalisation are fragile

The case revolved around the circumstance of the unmarried father, with otherwise no rights to remain in Ireland, seeking to avail of his fatherhood of an Irish unborn child in order to remain here – and the extent of the child’s rights

EDITORIAL Make Ireland ethical, equal and beautiful; and put economics in its proper place M argrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commis – sioner, serves as an inspiration for the main character in 'Borgen', a Danish prime minister who tries to juggle family life. She will know how economic concerns do not drive all agendas, that quality of life is more important than GDP. Apparently she also like to knit elephants in her spare time, because, she says, “they bear no grudge, but they remember well”. The tech world won’t soon forget August 30th 2016: that is when Ms Vestager ordered the Irish government to recover up to €13bn, plus interest of up to another €6bn, in unpaid taxes from Apple. The decision was expected, vested interests had cynically played down the figure and the purposes for which the back taxes – and they are rightfully due, not some windfall – can be put. The Commission concluded that Irish rul- ings in 1991 and 2007 artificially lowered the tax Apple was due to pay, and that although the firm did not break any law, this arrangement was in breach of EU state-aid rules preventing member states from offering preferential treat- ment to particular firms. The spat centres on two Irish-registered sub- sidiaries that hold rights to use Apple’s intellectual property to make and sell its prod- ucts outside the Americas. The commission argues that a dubious profit- allocation deal allowed most of their profits to be moved to a “head office” that existed only on paper and was tax-resident in no country — allowing Apple to shrink its tax rate in Europe to well below 1%. The ruling is the most important—and contro- versial—moment so far in the war on corporate tax avoidance. It is one that has liquidised the moral armature of Ireland’s laissez-faire Fine Gael party. Michael Noonan would rather “defend the integrity of our tax system” than accept a windfall that could transform the coun- try. Something about seeds. It is all part of an impoverished lack of vision. Enda Kenny’s principal vision is to make Ire- land the best little country in the world in which to do business. Our leading politicians have made it clear that the only “absolute red line” in Ireland’s internationals affairs is retaining Ireland’s Corporation Tax Rate of 12.5%. New thinking is required. Ireland is an imagi- native, youthful and dynamic country. It has nothing to fear from pursuing ethical impera- tives and imaginative politics. We do not need to be the slave of the tax-evasive multinational sector. €19bn could change the country, belea- guered after nearly a decade of austerity. It would take a chunk off the national debt, which now stands at €200bn. It could pay for a few years of the Universal Social Charge, which brings in around €4bn a year annually, or the school building programme between 2016 and 2021 currently capitalised at €2.8bn. It would pay for the health system for a year, or perhaps enable a shift to a free National Health System. It could rebalance a society where at the moment the top 1% owns 15% of wealth. There could be no stronger message that Ireland intends to pursue a mature and equitable poli- tics than that it recognises that one of the major beneficiaries of globalism, should pay its debts to the people on whom it depends, and in par- ticular to the beleaguered populus that in important ways has been hung out to dry by global capital. It could be used to address some big goals. To reduce inequality, improve the quality of life, plan a green and efficacious new Ireland with sustainable employment for all and high-qual- ity well-planned housing, revitalising and rebeautifying all the cities and towns of the country. The money should be used to address social, environmental, cultural and governance issues. To make us the best country in the world to live in. We owe nothing to the transient multinational sector. It should pay corporate at taxes at a full and reasonable rate. Ministerial deference to multinationals cannot be justified by any scientific assessment of the consequences of alternative actions. As with burning bondholders, taking our just deserts from Apple would lose us no significant friends but gain us some pride and even respect. Observers would see that expecting justice from our past dealings bespeaks a country that can be relied upon, a mature partner and not a deferential slave to the ungrateful global finan- cial system The judgment is the EU operating at its best. We should grasp it, and sideline any dinosaur who seeks to appeal it. We should take Apple for every dollar it owes us. It will stay in Ireland for the quality of our workforce anyway. Then let’s look to forge a great little country, not a deferential little econ- omy; and move to pursue serious policies in fields other than economics. We may even even- tually start to grow comfortable with the enhanced political and ethical standing that doing the right thing would afford us. Shove your best little country for business obsession 4 September 2016 EDITORIAL    NEWS        Ken Foxe     Frank Connolly     Frank Connolly 12 COVER STORY    Michael Smith     Michael Smith     Anton McCabe     Constantin Gurdgiev    Eoin O’Malley POLITICS     Ronnie Fay     review by Niall Crowley    George Monbiot     Sarah Lennon     Niall Crowley OPINION     Conor Lenihan IDEOLOGY DEBATE     Desmond Fennell     Michael Smith       John Waters MEDIA     Gerard Cunningham CULTURE    Frank Armstrong     Ed Carroll    review by Cormac Deane 