 | | | Ireland's policies aid business more than the public | A few weeks before Ireland unveiled its 2012 budget, which heaped €3.5bn in tax rises and spending cuts on an austerity-weary public, Ireland's top civil servants sat down privately with senior bankers to discuss the industry's wish list.
It was the morning of November 24 2011, a year after Dublin was forced into an international bailout due to reckless speculation by its banks and chronically weak regulation. They met under the auspices of the "Clearing House", a secretive group of financial industry executives, accountants and public servants formed in 1987 to promote Dublin as a financial hub.
The participants thrashed out 21 separate taxation and legal incentives sought by the financial industry at the meeting, which took place in room 308 in the prime ministers' offices.
A controversial tax break for high-paid executives recruited from abroad, enhancements to the tax regime for financial groups and a firm commitment to Ireland's 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate were among the measures discussed and later unveiled by Michael Noonan, Ireland's finance minister, on budget day.
http://link.ft.com/r/0QSDPP/HI1YJR/QFZDL0/U1F8A4/EKH2H8/50/h?a1=2013&a2=5&a3=1
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