Written answers

Tuesday, 27 September 2016

Department of Finance

State Aid Investigations

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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212. To ask the Minister for Finance the discussions he has had with his European ministerial counterparts regarding the European Commission's adverse ruling against Ireland regarding the taxation of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27323/16]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael 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. The appeal is to be lodged by 10 November 2016.

Member States have legal standing to intervene in all cases that go before the European courts and do so from time-to-time if it is considered that the case raises points of relevance for their country.

It is the view of the Government that our appeal is necessary to defend the integrity of our tax system; to provide tax certainty to business; and to challenge the encroachment of EU state aid rules into the sovereign Member State competence of taxation. There are also a number of detailed and technical legal issues relating to state aid and tax that will be raised with the European Courts as part of our appeal.

At the informal ECOFIN meeting in Bratislava last weekend, I updated fellow Finance Ministers on the case from an Irish perspective.

If other Member States found that the issues we are raising are of relevance for their tax system, I would welcome their support for the Irish position. The timeline for other Member States making such an intervention only begins after the Irish appeal is lodged so I wouldn't expect that they will have made up their mind at this early stage in the process.

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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213. To ask the Minister for Finance the discussions he has had with Commissioner Vestager regarding the European Commission's adverse ruling against Ireland regarding the taxation of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27324/16]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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On 30 August 2016, it was announced that the Commission had concluded their single investigation in Ireland and had issued a negative decision in the Apple State Aid case.  

Over the course of the three year investigation, detailed and comprehensive responses were provided to the Commission demonstrating that the appropriate amount of Irish tax was charged in accordance with the relevant legislation, that no selective advantage was given and that there was no State Aid. This engagement included meetings both at political and official level, including a meeting between myself and Commissioner Vestager in July 2016.

The Government remains of the view that there was no breach of State Aid rules in this case and that the legislative provisions were correctly applied. By appealing the Decision the Government is taking the necessary course of action to vigorously defend the Irish position.

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