The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has again insisted that Ireland is not a tax haven.
An expert from the body has told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that Ireland is not on its list of countries which allow deliberate tax-dodging.
The Irish corporate tax regime has come under criticism in recent months from the United States which believes American companies are exploiting Irish law to avoid paying tax in America.
The Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously insisted that the company has no special 2% tax rate here.
Speaking in May, Mr. Cook moved to clarify reports that the tech giant had negotiated a special deal with the Irish government.
Ireland was labelled a tax haven by observers after Mr. Cook appeared before a US Senate hearing earlier this year. A US Senate report said the iPhone maker avoided paying tax by setting up companies in Ireland which paid little or no tax on sales of the company's products outside America.
Pascal Saint-Amans says Ireland does not fill criteria as tax haven
The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said Apple had agreed tax a rate of just 2% with the Irish government. That is well below the corporation tax rate of 12.5%.
In a statement the company says it does not use tax gimmicks. Apple employs 4,000 people at its European headquarters in Cork. Mr. Cook denied there was any such deal.
The Taoiseach has also previously criticised much of the commentary around the Irish corporate tax rate. Enda Kenny said the comment was "ill-informed and misrepresented". He added that there was no possibility of individual tax rate deals for companies.
Pascal Saint-Amans of the OECD today said a coordinated global campaign would be needed to avoid this as individual countries could not change the system alone.
"The definition for a tax haven that was internationally agreed classes a tax haven as a country with a zero tax rate, no transparency or exchange of information, and no real operations on the ground there" he said.
"Clearly Ireland does not fill that criteria" he added.
Image: ©OECD
