The Irish Times reported yesterday that the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) had insisted in the D?°il (Parliament) that:

Ireland is not being used as a Cayman Islands-style tax paradise by rich businessmen

He did so in response to claims by Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins who said:

corporation tax rates in the country were "utterly immoral".

Both are right of course. Ireland is not a haven in the way Cayman is. But there's more than one type of haven. And the corporation tax rates it offers do shift a burden of tax onto others. That's immoral.

And I have to say I had some sympathy with Mr Higgins when he said:

"Microsoft boss Bill Gates struts the world stage as a philanthropist but uses Ireland for blatant tax avoidance.

"The Irish tax exiles, your friends, who also strut around in this country, raising funds for worthy causes, but if they paid their due taxation, those causes would be funded ten times over, without having to go with a begging bowl to them."

Who could he have been referring to, I wonder?