Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Commission has made value judgments on how intellectual property rights should be assessed, when in fact they are held in the US. At the same time, the Commissioner is saying that the Irish tax authorities have the sovereign right of dictating tax policy. There appears to be a contradiction in what Ms Vestager is saying. In one breath she accepts the sovereign right of the Irish tax authorities to effectively provide tax law, which they have done. Apple applied for tax rulings on the methodology for calculating the profits and then applied them. Ms Vestager accepts that both companies were non-resident for tax purposes under Irish law. She keeps saying the court will decide. She took a unilateral decision to publish her findings back in August 2016, and this has had repercussions for the Irish State, when on the face of it, it would appear that no Irish tax law or international tax law was broken, because effectively the companies were non-resident. Yet, something has been put out there that effectively does not appear to have legal foundation. It appears to be a value judgment on the part of the Commission.