IRELAND’S CORPORATE TAX regime has made the front page of the Financial Times for the second time in less than a fortnight.

The lead story on the influential newspaper today is headlined “Brussels in crackdown on ‘double Irish’ tax loophole’.

The story says that the EU is putting pressure on the Irish government to shut down the controversial tax measure for multinational companies, or else face a major investigation.

Ireland has repeatedly denied that Apple and other giant companies have received selective treatment on their taxes paid in this country over the past two decades.

When the Financial Times last ran a story on this, the Department of Finance insisted that there was “no breach of State aid” and that Apple was “taxed fully in according with the law”.

The story comes just four days before Finance Minister Michael Noonan announces Budget 2015, with the paper noting that he is considering closing the so-called ‘double Irish’ loophole on Tuesday.

However the newspaper also says ministers are believed to be unwilling to act under so much pressure from Brussels.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that the government shares Europe’s concern abut ‘unintended loopholes’, saying that the Double Irish is “a construct of multinational companies and their tax advisers”.

“It’s not a promotional tool used by Ireland’s development agencies,” he said.

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