Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The explanation for why Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour might have decided to support the appeal is of course that they were all in government over the years that this took place and if the ruling goes against the Government and Apple, they are all implicated in this.

That is why they have decided to vote against it. The Minister has not given an argument that is in any way convincing or could be understood by lay members of the public, who have a big stake in this given that the sum in question is €13 billion, as to why he believes the Commissioner was incorrect in her basic assertion. Ironically, the representatives of the various parties on this committee tried to impugn her motives and suggest she was being political when, in fact, she was very convincing in saying she was just looking at the matter on the basis of the state aid rules. Instead, individuals were suggesting this was really about an assault on Ireland's corporate tax rate and implying the Commission and other states in the European Union were jealous. This is blurring the issue and being political. Even in the Minister's response just now to me, he said we are doing what we are doing because it is in the best interest of Ireland. Surely when dealing with a matter as serious as this, the decision should be based on what the Minister believes to be the truth about it. It should not be a case of acting in a partisan way, regardless of the truth, to do what the Minister believes is in the best interest of the State. Amazingly, he believes refusing €13 billion is in the best interest of the State.

How can the Minister seriously suggest it is reasonable for Apple's profits to be allocated to a company that has no existence? That was the essence of the matter. The Minister still has not answered the question.

On the question of the other states in Europe being owed moneys, it could not be a question of the American sales because they are dealt with elsewhere, as Deputy Doherty said. What the Commissioner said is that any other state is free to make a claim on the €13 billion but it would have to provide the evidence. The fact is that no other state in Europe has made a claim on it. No figures were provided. The Commissioner said that, as a consequence, the only place to which the profits could reasonably be allocated was a company with a real economic existence, that is, the company that was tax resident here in Ireland. It was stated the profits should have been booked and taxed here and that it was not reasonable to allocate them to a company that had no existence and was tax resident nowhere.