Professor Frank Barry:

The Vice Chairman's point was that if he was an Apple shareholder he would be wondering when he would see the benefit of this. It is not ideal, but if these profits are earned by Apple and are kept offshore, he will not get the benefits in dividends. However, they will be reflected in the share price because they are genuine profits of the Apple company. Therefore, one would get value from them as an Apple shareholder. That is a more general point and has nothing to do with Ireland.