Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In recent weeks, we received an opinion from the Judge Advocate General in the Apple case, that will be taken into account by the European Court of Justice, which may reach the same conclusion or a different one. The ECJ may well refer the case back to the general court or it may deal with the case and arrive at a definitive judgment. That remains to be seen. As long as the matter remains live, we cannot get into detail on it, except to reaffirm the Government's position that no state aid was given in this case and the appropriate amount of tax was charged to and paid by Apple for the years in question. We await the judgment.

I will make the overall point that Ireland is in a good place as regards corporate tax reform. We signed up to the international agreement in October 2021. This committee and the House have now legislated for the transposition of the EU minimum tax directive and that builds on a series of reforms that have been implemented under the corporate tax reform roadmap. Ireland is in a good place and has a good story to tell when it comes to playing our part in the area of international corporate tax reform. We will continue to do so. We have faithfully implemented the obligations we signed up to. It is a matter for other countries to decide on their approach. We offer certainty, predictability and stability in our corporate tax policy and that will remain the hallmark as long as this Government is in office.