Full coverage: Pfizer

What does Donald Trump’s former commerce secretary Wilbur Ross mean when he says in Dublin that pharmaceutical companies “gradually come around”? The answer, if correct, is reassuring for Ireland.

Rather than a decoupling from the fortunes of US multinationals, the volatility reported by the Exchequer last month shows Ireland is more exposed to them than ever.

Ireland hosts several international pharmaceutical giants and the companies are keen to get their voices heard in Brussels via Ireland.

Pfizer, Novartis and several other major companies want Ireland to delay new EU wastewater treatments rules, claiming they will cost the industry dearly and impact FDI.

In a month when only two multinationals pay significant tax bills, the surge in their contributions accounted for the entire Exchequer surplus recorded so far this year. The budget is only around the corner.

The Department of Finance’s reference to weak pharmaceutical exports identifies the US pharma multinational as the latest contributor to the fall in corporation tax receipts below last year’s level for the first 10 months of 2023.

When the Swiss food multinational acquired Pfizer’s infant formula business in 2012, it claimed the cost of unwinding intercompany debt as a tax-deductible expense. The Tax Appeals Commission has now decided the case.

Pfizer is highly secretive about releasing details of its vast Irish operation. However, an investigation of over 200 corporate filings made by 80 Pfizer companies in Ireland, Europe and the US reveals $100bn worth of industrial and financial assets located here.