Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is entitlement and then there is competence. I think they are two different things in the context of the findings. I wish to stress another matter. It has been regurgitated many times since the press conference, but there are references to the findings as statements of fact, which they are not. The Directorate-General is not a court and therefore does not get to make that determination.

I have a fundamental difficulty with the fact that the Revenue now has to go off and assess the tax liability under its findings. If the economic activity did not occur within this jurisdiction, the Revenue Commissioners will not have any information on it other than the stated public accounts of a public limited company, that is, those of a multinational firm. I am not being flippant about it, but are Revenue officials literally picking up the phone to Tim Cook and asking him for Apple's global accounts so that Revenue can make up a notional figure to comply with the request of the Commission?