Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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16. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with a person (details supplied). [27645/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I met Tim Cook, Chief Executive of Apple, on 18th June in Dublin. Apple is a major investor in the country, and employs more than 5,000 people in Ireland – mostly in Cork. I regularly meet with companies with a presence in Ireland, and it is right for me to do so.

Indeed, during our meeting, Mr. Cook highlighted Apple's continued investment in Ireland, in particular a new extension to the Cork facility which was completed in May of this year.

We discussed some topical issues including the impact of Brexit, the digital single market, digital taxation and data protection.

We also discussed the European Commission's State Aid case and noted that payments are being made by Apple, in accordance with the agreed schedule, into the escrow fund which has been set up pending the appeal submitted to the European Court of Justice. Finally, we discussed the Athenry data centre site, and noted the new policy and legal frameworks that we are putting in place in relation to future data centre development.