what does the German French attack on our corpo tax rate say about lisbon 2 sham?

Calling anyone who voted Yes to Lisbon 2"you suckers" is not respectful or particularly rational. It is a populist statement not an argument supported by facts. And it attempts to state a perceived problem without any focus on a possible solution.

You miss the point that not everyone voted for Lisbon because of the corporation tax guarantee. There were in fact several guarantees which collectively may have swayed the 2nd vote.

The text of the guarantee:

http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/lisbon_treaty/lisbon_treaty_progress/index_en.htm


But even this is an assumption. Who knows what the motivations were? The 1st referendum was also only lost by a small minority which indicated that quite a number were already in favour without any guarantees. You also miss the point that, as other posters have pointed out, the guarantee stands. There is a difference between France & Germany or whoever trying to get us to relinquish it by argument, and being able to actually over-ride it legally. If I have a contract with you, I may want to change it, but I can only do this with you consent, so there is no contradiction in both having a contract and wanting to re-negotiate it, But as I already pointed out, there are solid arguments against doing this from both Ireland and Europe's perepctives, and they are one's we should use.

Notwithstanding all this, there is clearly a problem with the Euro, and we need to fix it. Knowing how the EU operates, and the muddle that normally comes out of the deals they make,it isn't very inspiring. One EU statesman (anonymously) said that they know how to fix the problem, but they don't know how to get re-elected afterwards.


What do you propose we should do?
 
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The whole issue surrounding the guarantee on taxation and the Lisbon Treaty was a red herring right from the begining. The guarantee that was given was that nothing in the Lisbon Treaty would affect our CT rate, which is correct. There was nothing in the Lisbon Treaty that would have altered our tax rates or enabled any mechanism to alter our tax rates. However, people were led to believe that by voting Yes to Lisbon 2 that the issue of Ireland CT rate was off the agenda.
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This is true. And as far as Ireland is concerned it is off the agenda, and I agree people felt it was set in stone, and are angry now about the it being raised again. But while France & Germany or others may raise it as an issue, but we have solid arguments to defend it, not just the legal guarantee. But we must also accept that nothing in treaties is forever or even can be. There was a time we were legally part of the UK as part of an indisoluble union - and then we weren't as facts and circumstances changed. This is both reasonable and often desirable. I don't know what all Europe is going to need to do to sort out the Euro problem, but we will likely need to change how it is run and adapt or face been forced to do it by markets and circumstances. Whatever it is, we need to get ahead of the curve if the Euro is to be saved.
 
lionstour said:
What does the German French attack on our corpo tax rate say about lisbon 2 sham? After all you suckers who voted for Lisbon 2 were offered binding assurances.

SUCKERS.
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I heard somewhere that since the corporate was lowered last time, Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland has declined each year since. Is this statement true?
If so it flies in the face of the arguments of having the lower corporate tax as a benefit for Ireland inc.

Does the lower corp tax mean we'll get sfa out of the proceeds of the Shell profit in Rossport??

Yes we are suckers alright.
 
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