By Conor O’Carroll
American pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer queried the Department of Finance’s Freedom of Information (FOI) policy following a report of their meeting with officials in the Business Post.
Documents supplied to Village Magazine, also through FOI, show how representatives acting on behalf of Pfizer sought a meeting between its new Senior Vice President of Global Tax, Jerome Mychalowych and officials from the Department of Finance in June.
The meeting formed part of a series held at the Department of Finance over the summer with multinationals that included the likes of Coca-Cola, Google and AstraZeneca, as well as Pfizer.
For its part, Village Magazine finds the Department’s FOI Publication Scheme to be comprehensive and clear, and the corporate hand-holding that Pfizer requested was unnecessary to understand the operation and parameters of the Act
Each company used the opportunity to express their thoughts on the evolving international developments surrounding corporation tax. However, and uniquely, Pfizer also raised an article published in the Business Post last year, saying it was “surprised by the content of the article and would like to understand better the Department’s position on responding to FOI requests from journalists”.
The article in question details a meeting between Mychalowych’s predecessor, Tom Hogan, and officials at the Department of Finance last year where Pfizer warned that a “historic overhaul of global corporate tax rules would create ‘losers and winners’ and lead to administrative headaches for businesses”.
Emails sent to Deirdre Donaghy, Head of Business Tax at the Department of Finance, state that “while Pfizer really value this type of meeting”, they requested to speak to officials “about FOI parameters arising from what transpired following the meeting back in June 2022”.
Donaghy agreed to speak to Pfizer’s representatives on the issue raised, though reminded them that FOI in Ireland is governed by the Freedom of Information Act, 2014. No records of what was discussed were released and it’s unclear if any notes of the exact nature of Pfizer’s concerns were taken.
A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said “a Department official had a telephone call with the agent in response to the request. The agent was directed to the Freedom of Information Acts and advised that these provisions would apply in respect of any meeting and related correspondence”.
This explanation was accepted by Pfizer, they continued, and stressed “the Department did not feel under any pressure with regard to the release of records”.
Pfizer did not respond to a request for comment.
Pfizer also raised an article published in the Business Post last year, saying it was “surprised by the content of the article and would like to understand better the Department’s position on responding to FOI requests from journalists”
For its part, Village Magazine finds the Department’s FOI Publication Scheme – found here – to be comprehensive and clear, and the corporate hand-holding that Pfizer requested was unnecessary to understand the operation and parameters of the Act.
The minutes of the subsequent meeting on corporate tax were also released. They show that Pfizer continued their position from last year with “a discussion around the administrative burden of the new rules” taking place.
Discussions surrounding moving to a territorial tax system also took place ahead of Minister Michael McGrath’s announcement in September that Ireland would begin its transition to such a system, introducing an exemption on foreign profits and simplifying the overall tax code.
The Irish Tax Institute say multinationals are eager for this move as it would “reduce the administrative burden for Irish companies with international operations and simplify how double taxation relief would be available in Ireland on such foreign earnings. It would [also] bring Ireland’s corporation tax code in line with most OECD countries and EU Member States”.
This, they say, would maintain Ireland’s competitiveness in attracting foreign direct investment once the OECD minimum corporate tax rates come into effect.
