Madam, - One of the issues raised during this referendum campaign has been whether or not the European Union will receive any new powers enabling it to change Ireland's corporation tax rate.
Those who have stated publicly that the European Union has no power to change our tax rates and that each country in Europe has a veto over any taxation rate changes include the following:
The president of the European Commission, José Barroso; the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering; British prime minister Gordon Brown; the independent Referendum Commission which is overseeing the dissemination of impartial information on the Lisbon Reform Treaty in Ireland; the Small Firms Association (SFA), representing 7,500 small and medium-sized companies; a number of different chambers of commerce from all parts of the country, including Dublin and Cork; the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC), representing 8,000 companies in Ireland; IDA Ireland, which has ensured that 136,000 people are directly employed in 980 multinationals located in Ireland; and all the main political parties represented in Dáil Éireann, with the very notable exception of Gerry Adams's Sinn Féin.
As a member of the economics committee of the European Parliament since the year 2004, I can assure your readers that there is no clause within the provisions of the EU Lisbon Reform Treaty which enables the European Union to change any corporation tax rate in Ireland or to change any tax rate in any other country within the European Union. The setting of tax rates is a matter for each member-state of the EU to deal with in whatever way they individually see fit.
Gordon Brown was very clear last week when he said he would never sign a European treaty that would give the EU any say over taxation rates. He said the EU Lisbon Reform Treaty has no role over taxation matters and the British government would always vigorously oppose and veto measures that would seek to introduce any form of tax harmonisation in Europe now or in the future.
I hope this will help to bring some clarity to this important issue. - Yours, etc,
EOIN RYAN,
Member of the Economics Committee,
European Parliament,
MEP for Dublin,
Molesworth Street,
Dubin 2.