Survival of the Richest

Ireland
Global solutions
On the issue of establishing an intergovernmental UN
tax body, the Irish Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, has
stated in a Parliamentary debate: “The Irish position has
always been that the issues of base erosion and profit
shifting are best addressed by a multilateral solution and
that the OECD has the recognised international experts in
this area. It is, therefore, important that the work of the EU,
the UN or other intergovernmental work on tax takes into
account the ongoing work at the OECD, and that a twintrack
and potentially conflicting approach is avoided.” 470
In other words, the Irish government does not support the
establishment of an intergovernmental UN tax body.
Conclusion
When it comes to transparency, the position of the Irish
government is unclear, both as regards transparency
around beneficial owners of companies and trusts, as well
as around full public country by country reporting.
Ireland still has relatively few tax treaties with developing
countries, although the number has been increasing
throughout recent years. However, it is concerning that
the Irish treaties on average reduce the tax rates in its
developing country treaty partners more than any other
country covered by this report. Furthermore, it is worrying
that Ireland has three ‘very restrictive’ treaties with
developing countries.
Finally, it is of concern that the Irish government opposes
the establishment of an intergovernmental UN tax body,
which would give developing countries the chance to have a
seat at the table when global tax standards are agreed.
72 • Survival of the Richest