Denis O'Brien said the State is 'complicit in facilitating global tax avoidance' by major US technology giantsBusinessman Denis O’Brien has described graduates emerging from Ireland’s colleges as “entitled” and referred to the State’s corporate tax regime as “digital colonialism” in a broad-ranging speech on Tuesday on the challenges facing the country. “In Ireland, we need to reform all parts of the Government and its administration,” he said. But while he noted that tech giants having data centres in Ireland are part of the system and something needs to be done to address tax-collection concerns, he insisted that the Republic needs to become a European leader in data centres. Data centres will be a huge driver of FDI and key to our digital services economy.”He noted there are more than 10 data centres waiting to be connected to the electricity grid, and more awaiting connection to the gas network. Mr O’Brien said the Government should ask big Irish companies to make specialist senior managers available for secondment to help oversee big projects.

Source: The Irish Times November 11, 2025 15:33 UTC