Irish Ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall has described the use of the word “leprechaun” by a Nobel Prize-winning economist as an “unacceptable slur”. Mr Mulhall was responding to a column in the New York Times by Paul Krugman who coined the phrase “leprechaun economics” to describe Ireland’s tax policies relating to multinationals. In 2015, however, some combination of pressure from the European Commission and changes in Irish tax laws induced Apple to reassign many of its intangible assets to its regular Irish subsidiary. In a series of tweets, Mr Mulhall has elaborated further on why he objected to the comments. Was also put off by his lame excuse that ‘the Irish have a sense of humour’ about this name-calling.

Source: The Irish Times June 12, 2021 11:58 UTC