Oxfam has said Ireland is part of a toxic global tax system servicing the very wealthiest while ordinary people pay the price and lose out on essential public services.

Research conducted by the charity puts Ireland sixth in a list of 15 countries which, it says, are helping big business to cheat countries and their citizens out of billions of euro in tax every year.

Chief Executive of Oxfam Ireland Jim Clarken said governments were falling over themselves to ensure corporations paid as little tax as they wished.

He said that, in the process, governments were starving their countries of the money needed for education, healthcare and generating jobs.

Mr Clarken said it was "no badge of honour" for Ireland to be known as a haven for coporate tax dodging.

He complained that not only did Ireland turn a blind eye, it put out the red carpet for those companies that get away with large-scale tax avoidance through profit-shifting and sweetheart deals.

However, the Department of Finance today rejected Oxfam's findings and said that Ireland does not meet any of the international standards for being considered a tax haven.

"Ireland is fully compliant with all international best practices in the areas of tax transparency and exchange of information. We only have and want real substantive FDI, the kind that brings real jobs and investment into Ireland," the Department said in a statement.