Financial Justice Walking Tour
Channel: Afri
Date: 2023-10-19

For the past thirty years, Financial Justice Ireland has been at the forefront of analysis and discussion on globalisation and Ireland.

Formed in 1993 as the Debt and Development Coalition, its first major campaign was Jubilee 2000, which sought to tackle the debt crisis of the Global South through the cancellation of onerous loans that were crippling the social and economic development of many former colonial
states. The purpose was to highlight the continued effect of colonial relations in a ‘post-colonial’ world. Financial Justice Ireland continues that work today through campaigns and education - the latest expression of which is this walking tour of Ireland’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

The concept is a simple yet effective one: to make real the abstract nature of globalised finance by undertaking a journey through the streets where it conducts its business. It is also, at the same time, a walk through Irish history, from the War of Independence to today’s world of transnational capital, of which the IFSC is a significant and far from modest hub.

This walk through both history and finance provides a way into a critical and crucial part of the story of Ireland today. There is a tension at the heart of the country’s relationship with its colonial past; it is acknowledged by the state, yes, but often in a muted way, and it sits uneasily with its status as a tax haven. Oxfam Ireland, in its 2018 briefing paper, Hard To Swallow, found that four US pharmaceutical companies - Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Pfizer – were using Ireland’s tax code to avoid paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes in Chile, Columbia,
Ecuador, India, Pakistan, Peru and Thailand. Such moves were depriving these countries of much-needed funds for socially necessary investment and infrastructure. It is a form of neo-colonialism and yet Ireland - which for hundreds of years was itself bound in a colonial relationship with
Britain - is an active enabler of this wealth extraction. The recent congressional hearings in the US and the Apple tax case undertaken by the EU show that it is not just the global south that has an issue with the Irish tax model. It is very often our neighbours and allies as well.
And yet, at the same time, the government argues (not without reason) that these tax measures bring much needed investment to Ireland, and that many tens of thousands of jobs are dependent on them. The brilliance of this walking tour is that it allows a robust and informed
discussion to take place among students as to the merits or otherwise of this business strategy.

There are no easy answers or solutions, but at least any answers arrived at through this resource will be informed ones. Its deceptively simple methodology – a stroll through the streets of Dublin – provides a platform for a powerful and engaging discussion. Financial Justice Ireland is to be
commended for such a creative pedagogical innovation in the teaching of tax justice.

For over four decades Afri has been involved in opposing war, promoting food sovereignty and tackling climate change - working especially with  Secondary and Third level students as well as with the general public. We organise the annual Famine Walk in Mayo, a Hedge School in TU Blanchardstown and Féile Bríde in Kildare. Thank you for continuing to support our work.

https://www.afri.ie