Ireland has secured a legal guarantee which ensures that taxation issues are a matter for Ireland to deal with alone –

The European Union has no power to set tax rates in Ireland –



Pat the Cope Gallagher MEP for the North and West has today said “Ireland has secured a legal guarantee which ensures that taxation issues are a matter for Ireland to deal with alone.



The legal guarantee which was agreed on June 18th last by EU leaders states that ‘nothing in the Treaty of Lisbon makes any change of any kind, for any member state, to the extent or operation of the competence of the European Union in relation to taxation’.



This means that Ireland sets our tax rates, including our Corporation Tax rate. The European Union has no power to bring forward new laws which can change any of our tax rates.



Taxation issues are a sovereign matter for each of the 27 member states of the EU to deal with, in accordance with their own national laws.



This was an issue of concern to the many people during the last Lisbon Treaty referendum. This legal guarantee ensures that this concern has now been effectively addressed.”



ENDS.