{"id":628698,"date":"2026-09-18T16:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628698\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T16:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:10:14","slug":"tax-take-from-irish-based-tech-companies-will-not-be-shared-with-eu-states-tanaiste-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/628698\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax take from Irish-based tech companies will not be shared with EU states, T\u00e1naiste says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A redistribution of Ireland\u2019s tax take from multinational tech companies to other EU States is a remote possibility into the future, Minster for Finance Simon Harris<\/a> has said. <\/p>\n

The T\u00e1naiste insisted on Friday that tax policy was an \u201cabsolute\u201d competency for any EU state, including Ireland. <\/p>\n

He said any change to that sovereignty would not take place at EU level, but under the auspices of a wider international body such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). <\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these conversations would need to happen in a [wider] context than just Europe, and I think that environment globally, truthfully, makes it unlikely at the moment,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He was responding to comments from French finance minister Roland Lescure, who said the large tax revenues Ireland earned from multinational tech companies should be \u201credistributed\u201d more fairly among other European countries. He argued that these revenues stemmed from income generated across the continent. <\/p>\n

In an interview with The Irish Times<\/a>, Lescure said Ireland was getting \u201ca big share of the global taxation because most of the digital global companies have got their headquarters in Ireland\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"FrenchFrench finance minister Roland Lescure speaks to reporters at the informal meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin Castle on Friday. Photograph: Bryan Meade\/EPA <\/p>\n

However, on his way into a meeting of euro-area finance ministers (Eurogroup) in Dublin Castle on Friday, he clarified the comments on tax policy competency, saying the issue was best tackled at OECD level. <\/p>\n

\u201cI understand looking at the paper this morning, my words came out of proportion. It\u2019s not about Ireland and France,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Lescure said there had been work done at OECD level to address this global phenomenon and said his belief was \u201cthis is the right way of doing it\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want this to be an issue between Ireland and France, or between France and anyone else,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a global issue we are faced with. We have to tackle it in an orderly way and the OECD is the best way to do it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Harris, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said he welcomed Lescure\u2019s clarification. <\/p>\n

\u201cTax is obviously a national competency. It\u2019s an absolute matter for every member state,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter for Ireland to pursue whatever taxation policy Ireland wishes to pursue. And Roland [Lescure], who is a good friend of Ireland and a very good colleague, made that point today that he was talking about the need for a broader global conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd indeed, he referenced the OECD as the vehicle for that conversation. That\u2019s always been Ireland\u2019s position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether there was any real prospect of that being discussed at OECD level in the near future, Harris said France had a long-held view in relation to digital taxation, but the matter remained a national competency within the EU. <\/p>\n

He said Ireland had been an active participant within the OECD on tax reform but also signalled that a change with regards to taxing multinational tech firms was not on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be honest and realistic: the context in reaching international agreements these days is not the best context, and I certainly would never want to see anything happen to the European economy that puts Europe at a disadvantage,\u201d Harris said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these conversations would need to happen in another context other than just Europe, and I think that environment globally, truthfully, is unlikely at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A redistribution of Ireland\u2019s tax take from multinational tech companies to other EU States is a remote possibility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,24138,2244,5148,176,2419,61,60,31925,43,267039],"class_list":["post-628698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-diplomacy","tag-eu","tag-european-union","tag-finance","tag-financial","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-meeting","tag-news","tag-treaties-and-organisations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628698","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=628698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}