After the historic EU ruling that will see global tech giant being forced to pay the Irish Government €13bn in back dated corporation tax, the People Before Profit party have set up petition calling for the money to be spent on building more social housing.
The petition which has already garnered several hundred signatures, was presented on Wednesday afternoon when the party held a street meeting outside the GPO in Dublin.
According to People Before Profit spokesman Kieran Allen the large amount of money could be put to some good use. Mr Allen said: “Apple has been found to owe the Government €13 billion in tax and the Government is trying to rush it through so they can make an appeal.
“If they make an appeal, the money will be locked away for years, whereas we estimate that money could be used to build 86,000 social houses,” said Mr Allen.
“It is the equivalent of our education budget, as the money is probably worth around €20 billion with interest, so you could solve or transform the country with that money,” he said.
“The Government is so committed to a model of Irish society built on tax havens that it’s only concern is its reputation amongst tax dodgers and big corporations that can dodge tax here.
“It doesn’t seem to worry about its reputation for how many people are homeless or the state of its hospitals.
“We have had a great reaction from people on O’Connell Street from all over the country and have received hundreds of signatures on the petition,” he said.