Irish here - I'm in favour of corporate tax rate transparency. Ireland's stated rate is close to its effective rate. This in itself is useful and fair. Before

Irish here - I'm in favour of corporate tax rate transparency. Ireland's stated rate is close to its effective rate. This in itself is useful and fair. Before - everyone especially Britain, France and Germany have a go at Ireland please remember. Facebook, Amazon and Starbucks paid effectively 0% corporate tax rate in the UK (<£5,000) - it was literally in the HN only two days ago and they aren't exceptions. These countries have wildly different stated and effective rates and it's not transparent at all. This makes such comparisons difficult and I suspect thats the end effect certain countries and businesses want. A trailing and specific example to support my case. I recall Frances effective corporation tax rate is around 8.5%.