Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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209. To ask the Minister for Finance the current position regarding Ireland's appeal of the European Commission's ruling regarding the taxation of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27320/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Government has authorised me to arrange for annulment proceedings to be brought before the General Court of the European Union in the Apple State case. The Attorney General has been requested to prepare the legal grounds in support of those proceedings and to take all other steps incidental to the conduct of those proceedings.

Dáil Eireann has also passed a motion supporting the Government decision to appeal the European Commission's decision that Ireland provided unlawful State aid to Apple.

The State has a period of two months and 10 days to bring an appeal and the appeal process may take several years. Apple has also indicated that it will exercise its right of appeal. An appeal to the European Courts takes the form of an application to the General Court of the European Union, asking it to annul the decision of the Commission.

Notwithstanding the right of appeal, Ireland is legally obliged to recover the alleged state aid from Apple in the interim. My officials will be engaging with the Commission over the coming months as part of this recovery process.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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210. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason the Government was caught by surprise by the announcement of the European Commission's adverse ruling on 31 August 2016 given that his Department spent €1 million over three years on legal consultancy and fees in respect of the EU's investigation into the taxation affairs of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27321/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I first learned of the impending Commission decision following a phone call from Commissioner Vestager on Tuesday 23^rdAugust. In that conversation I was given to understand that the Commission would issue a negative decision early the following week. I was given no confirmation of the date of the decision, no indication of the size of the recovery amount, nor was I provided with any information on the grounds for the Commission's decision. 

Until that point I had been working on the basis of intelligence gathered by my officials that the Commission was likely to issue a decision in September or October, but I had not firm indication of the timing or content of the Commission's decision. 

Following further contacts with my officials, the Commission indicated that the recovery amount would be large, and in the billions. 

It was not until the morning of the decision that the recovery amount and other details of the Commission's decision became available to Ireland.

There has been significant work undertaken by Ireland in anticipation of the Commission decision, which will now enable a robust case to be put before the European Courts on Ireland's behalf. I consider that the money spent on the case to date is reasonable in light of the significance of the issues involved.