Opposition parties clashed with Fianna Fáil yesterday over a claim by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen that his party alone would protect Ireland's low rate of corporate tax, widely regarded as one of the cornerstones of our current economic success.
Speaking at a news conference in Dublin to launch Fianna Fáil's jobs and enterprise policy, Mr Cowen said: "Our corporation tax regime is safe only in the hands of this party."
Fianna Fáil was giving a guarantee that corporation tax would remain at 12½ per cent so that Ireland could remain "a preferred location for the world's most value-creating profitable businesses".
Questioning the Opposition's credentials on the issue, he said: "We believe in low taxation from conviction, not out of convenience, and we will resolutely oppose any attempt to introduce tax harmonisation within the European Union, either directly or through technical measures."
Asked to specify which branch of the Opposition he considered to be unreliable on corporate tax, Mr Cowen questioned the commitment of the Labour Party, especially its leader, Pat Rabbitte.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, who was also taking part in the news conference, pointed to the Green Party as having an ambivalent history on the issue.
Asked if maintaining the corporation tax rate would be a "red line" issue in the event of coalition talks with the Greens after the election, Mr Martin replied: "Absolutely."
A Labour spokesman said: "This is typical Fianna Fáil distortion. Mr Rabbitte was one of the group of ministers in the rainbow government who negotiated the 12½ per cent rate with the European Commission and he has repeatedly said that taxes are down and will stay down. That applies to corporation tax as well as personal tax rates."
Green Party finance spokesman Dan Boyle said: "Our party policy since 2006 is to maintain corporation tax at 12½ per cent. We don't agree with EU harmonisation of corporation and personal taxation, and never have. In the 2002 general election we called for a corporation tax rate of 15 per cent.
"Our policy now is for a 12½ per cent rate, and our commitment is to maintain that in the lifetime of the next government if we are participants."
Launching a Fianna Fáil document, Keeping Ireland Working: The Next Steps Forward, Mr Martin said more than 600,000 jobs had been created in Ireland over the last 10 years. "This didn't happen by chance - it came from clear choices."
