Exhibition takes aim at Ireland's tax system

Cavan artist Paul Connolly hopes that his upcoming exhibition ‘Tax Haven Ireland’ will “open a discussion” on how the government treats multinational companies in Ireland.

Inspired by a decade of writing letters to the editor of The Irish Times critical of how sectors of the Irish state pander to the desires of major corporations eager to minimise their tax bills, Paul’s exhibition at Johnston Central Library in Cavan, will consist of a mixture of his written letters stitched alongside some of his striking art work.

He laments how Ireland, to his mind facilitates “global greed”, blaming the actions of successive ministers of finance, "mandarins" in both the Deptartment of Finance and Inland Revenue, and powerful private companies and statutory bodies who lobby on legal tax avoidance mechanisms. “Many poorer countries, particularly post colonial ones, look at us and wonder “When did Ireland change sides?”

Paul, who is also a well known optometrist, advocates for Ireland playing a positive role in developing countries and recalls meeting a Masters student from Burkina Faso in sub-Saharan Africa who hoped to build a farm school in his rural community.

Paul agreed to help fund the school through the 'Economy of Communion' an international business initiative, of which his practice is part. With this funding the farm school started being built when the student returned to Africa in 2015.

“From 2018 CLASFADF (Cavan Local Authority Staff foreign aid development fund) also funded the school along with ongoing private donations."

“The farm school went up quickly,” he says.

“Hen houses, cattle sheds, piggeries, classrooms, offices, everything you’d think of.”

The Cavan Town man juxtaposes this ongoing positive contribution, with how the Irish state enables multinationals in “funneling profits” from countries in Africa and elswhere to Ireland to avail of our very low tax rates.

While the government and others may regard such policies as a way to postion Ireland to make it attractive to do business here, Paul views the tax measures as creating loopholes to allow the wealthy to accrue ever greater wealth at the expense of countries in desperate need of tax revenues.

He refers to an Irish Times report on one major company that used a subsidiary in Ireland to feed over €90 billion in just two years back to its US parent, stating the money was “non-taxable”.

“This money is profit from other countries, many poorer, on which no tax is paid there either,” said Paul.

“Another company acknowledged to an American Senate inquiry that they paid an effective tax rate of 2% in Ireland.”

He was shocked when the student told him the effects of these tax policies in Ireland, look like in his country, Burkina Faso.

“People have mobile phones but they don’t have enough to eat,” asserts Paul.

Paul feels that Ireland’s once “very good reputation” has been “completely undermined”.

“Ireland is viewed internationally as a pariah state,” he adds.

He draws a comparison to the actions of many Irish people who he says have “very quietly” been doing really good work building houses in African countries for a number of years.

“Ireland is now one of the biggest tax havens in the world,” he remarks.

“How did we go from a post-colonial country to effectively facilitating countries being ripped off?

“We were told it was our proximity to Europe and our educated workforce attracting multinationals to Ireland.”

Paul feels strongly that a conversation must be had on this topic, and hopes that his exhibition, that he wants to bring to other parts of Ireland, particulary Dublin, will help in doing so.

“It is one of the big silences in Ireland,” he says.

“I think it will be a major scandal in 20 or 30 years time.”Paul would love to see a gradual unwinding in Ireland's dependence upon income from multinationals, and a shift towards other economic markets, particularly Africa who he says are “on the cusp of an economic boom”.

“Ireland has a huge possibility to be one of the greenest countries in the world and one of the best countries to do ethical business.”

Paul Connolly’s ‘Tax Haven Ireland’ exhibition will take place in Johnston Central Library from Friday, March 27 to Thursday, April 9.