{"id":481302,"date":"2026-06-03T17:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481302\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T17:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:33:09","slug":"irelands-reliance-on-us-multinational-tax-take-poses-risks-european-commission-warns-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481302\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s reliance on US multinational tax take \u2018poses risks\u2019, European Commission warns \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Republic\u2019s reliance on corporation tax<\/a> revenue from big US multinational companies continues to \u201cpose risks to the stability of public finances\u201d, the European Commission<\/a> has warned. <\/p>\n

An annual European Union<\/a> assessment of the State\u2019s economic and fiscal position repeated warnings about the high dependence on corporate tax receipts from a handful of multinational companies in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors. <\/p>\n

That vital flow of corporation tax could be \u201chighly influenced\u201d by upheaval and changes \u201cin the global trade and tax environment\u201d, the commission\u2019s report said.<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s powerful executive arm, which proposes laws and leads on trade, said the corporate tax receipts from US companies were well in excess of what could be explained by their \u201cdomestic economic activity\u201d in the Republic. <\/p>\n

Tech giants Apple, Google, Microsoft and Meta and the pharma multinationals Eli Lilly and Pfizerare among the US multinational companies that account for a disproportionate proportion of the State\u2019s corporate tax take.<\/p>\n

This has consistently prompted warnings from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council<\/a> and other watchdogs and commentators about the Republic\u2019s overexposure to shocks or changes in the tech or pharma sector, or a transatlantic tariff dispute. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reliance of Ireland\u2019s government revenue on corporate taxation from foreign-owned multinational enterprises continues to pose risks to the stability of public finances,\u201d the commission report said on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

It recommended Ireland \u201cbroaden the tax base to reduce the risks related to the high concentration in Ireland\u2019s tax revenue\u201d. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s continued choking of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route bringing oil and gas from the Gulf, meant European economies were facing disruption to energy supplies and spiking prices, the report said.<\/p>\n

In a familiar warning, the commission said broad and \u201cuntargeted\u201d emergency measures to soften the blow of soaring energy prices would \u201centail large fiscal costs and are socially and economically inefficient\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo men sit in a small boat as cargo ships are anchored in the background in the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Amirhosein Khorgooi\/AP <\/p>\n

[\u00a0EU\u2019s six big economies seek move on capital market union despite Irish worriesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Republic\u2019s reliance on fossil fuels remained \u201csignificant\u201d and EU officials recommended the State do more to \u201cleverage\u201d the potential of renewable energy<\/a> sources. <\/p>\n

A lack of investment in the State power grid was driving up the price of electricity and hampering efforts to meet climate transition targets, the report said. \u201cWhile significant funding has been allocated to expanding and modernising the grid, delivery of investments remains to be implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission also flagged the growing portion of energy required by data centres<\/a>, which are using a fifth of Ireland\u2019s electricity supply. <\/p>\n

The overall assessment said Ireland\u2019s economic productivity was largely driven by foreign multinational companies. The output of home-grown companies lags levels in other EU states, officials wrote. State investment in research and development schemes was at one of the lowest rates in the EU. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of affordable housing<\/a> affects Ireland\u2019s competitiveness as it limits the ability of firms, in particular SMEs [small and medium enterprises] to attract skilled workers, putting pressure on wages,\u201d the assessment said. <\/p>\n

Separately, the report said Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine still posed an \u201cexistential challenge\u201d for the EU. <\/p>\n

The commission calculated that net public expenditure<\/a> in Ireland increased by 6.7 per cent last year, which, it noted, was \u201cabove the recommended maximum growth rate\u201d. Government spending was projected to increase by 6.1 per cent this year, the report said. <\/p>\n

The assessment said health spending by the State was among the highest in the EU, despite Ireland having a relatively young and healthy population. The commission said that was, in part, due to \u201cstructural inefficiencies\u201d in the public health system, such as a heavy reliance on costly hospital care and \u201climited accessibility\u201d to primary care. <\/p>\n

Commenting on the report, T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris said: \u201cWhile there are some technicalities and legal issues, in broad terms the Commission finds that Ireland is compliant with the fiscal rules and I welcome this.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said he would discuss issues emerging in the report with his EU counterparts at the meeting of EU finance ministers next week.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0EU plans energy standards for data centres amid concerns over soaring power useOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republic\u2019s reliance on corporation tax revenue from big US multinational companies continues to \u201cpose risks to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5168,24463,5691,5148,1712,3662,61,60,10297,43,3400],"class_list":["post-481302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-budget","tag-corporation-tax","tag-data-centres","tag-european-union","tag-european-commission","tag-housing-crisis","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-fiscal-advisory-council","tag-news","tag-renewable-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}