Government confident of avoiding tax reform to get share of EU €750bn fund

Ireland had been asked by Brussels to ‘step up action’ to tackle aggressive tax planning by multinationals before it could receive its €915m portion of the fund

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission Pic: Getty

The government is confident it will not have to make significant concessions to the European Commission on corporate tax in order to get its share of a €750 billion EU recovery fund.

Brussels has insisted member states must agree to a number of reforms before it will pay out the money, with Ireland asked to “step up action” to tackle aggressive tax planning by large corporations in order to receive its €915 million share.

The Business Post reported last week how the Commission’s requests had caused tension between it and the Irish government in recent weeks. Officials in Dublin are understood to be relatively confident, however, that Brussels will not be in a position to force their hand given the relatively small amount of funding on offer for Ireland.