Coveney denies he’s being naive in rejecting idea EU will want higher taxes in return for support

TANÁISTE Simon Coveney was forced to deny it is “naive” to say that there will be no pressure brought to bear on Ireland over our tax policy in exchange for support on Brexit.

Mr Coveney was responding to an official cited by respected news agency Bloomberg who indicated that “solidarity doesn’t come for free”.

The Foreign Affairs Minister rejected the idea and said there was no quid pro quo on Brexit.

The news agency reported an EU official who said “some members may press Ireland to drop its opposition to wide-ranging corporate tax reform in return for the bloc’s backing on Brexit”.

“While no direct link has yet been made between Ireland’s opposition to a proposed digital tax on tech giants, pressure may be brought to bear in exchange for support to avoid a hard Border on the island.”

The Government has rejected the suggestion and insisted the solidarity among the EU 27 on Brexit is solid.

Mr Coveney dismissed the report and said there is no suggestion of a linkage between the two from senior EU figures such as Donald Tusk, Jean Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier.

Ireland’s low rate of corporation tax in Ireland remains a sore point for some in Europe, as does its opposition to a proposed digital tax.

But Mr Coveney said there was an understanding of the key Irish issues in the context of Ireland across Europe.

“I have spent a lot of time, as the Taoiseach has, travelling around EU capitals ensuring that people understand why the Irish issues are so important on Brexit, why Ireland is so vulnerable and exposed to a potential bad outcome linked to Brexit [and] why that outcome, if we don’t have a backstop in place, could potentially create frictions that undermines the peace process.

“Those issues are serious issues. This is not some kind of bargain whereby the EU shows solidarity for Ireland in return for putting pressure on Ireland on tax,” he told RTÉ Radio One.

Asked if he was being “naive” in that assessment, Mr Coveney said: “No I’m not, I’m telling you because I’m in the meetings with decision makers that there is no linkage between the two.”

Mr Coveney said that what happens on taxation “is what has been happening for 20 years, whereby there are some EU countries that want to see a more common approach towards the setting of tax rates and tax bases across the European Union”.

“That pressure has been there and will always be there for the foreseeable future anyway, but there is no linkage between that issue and the pressures on Ireland linked to Brexit where we have strong solidarity...

“It is not a quid pro quo for Irish buy-in to any other policy,” he said.

When contacted by the

Irish Independent to ask if the issue had been raised at meetings with individual states or if Ireland is prepared for a scenario where pressure may be brought to bear as Brexit draws closer, a spokesman said “there is no truth whatsoever to this claim”.