Bare faced lies

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The FT has reported that:

A stinging attack on Irish tax policies has been launched by a senior Liberal Democrat who described Dublin as "Liechtenstein on the Liffey". Lord Oakeshott, a Treasury spokesman, told the Lords: "It promotes itself as a low-tax zone off north-west Europe, a kind of Cayman Islands in a cold climate and aggressively chases footloose financiers and less scrupulous British companies to move to Dublin to dodge tax."

He said there were "worrying parallels" between Iceland and Ireland. Irish banks, which had lent heavily on property, were in "dire straits", although the problems were not as severe as in Iceland. "Dublin does not need to be Liechtenstein on the Liffey. If you set out to attract mobile money from around the world, you run much bigger risks when things go wrong."

The Irish finance ministry has denied it encourages UK companies to use Dublin as a location to avoid tax.

Matthew Oakeshott is right.

The Irish finance ministry has issued a bare faced lie in response. No other description of their reported comment is appropriate. I name those companies leaving the UK in my defence.


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