IRELAND IS ‘”CONFIDENT in its position” ahead of next week’s opinion from the European Court of Justice on the Apple tax case, when it will be decided if Ireland needs to keep the €13bn in allegedly unpaid taxes.

Finance Minister Micheal McGrath said today that despite this confidence there may be further steps to the process. 

The European Court of Justice confirmed recently that an opinion by the Advocate General on the Apple case will be arrived at on 9 November.

The saga has been playing out for over seven years now, with successive Irish governments and Apple arguing that the tax is not owed.

“I think the truth is that there may well be further steps in the process. But we are confident in our position in respect of the Apple case.

“We take encouragement from the findings that have been made so far. But it is a significant day, next Thursday,” McGrath said. 

Speaking to reporters in Dublin at Fianna Fáil’s Ard Fheis this afternoon, McGrath said what is important is that Ireland stands behind our corporation tax system and “that we support the work of the Revenue Commissioners”.

“It is our view, as has been set out by our legal team at the hearing, that there was no sweetheart deal done,” McGrath said.

On whether the Government has a plan in place for if it loses the case, McGrath said: 

“We will wait for the finding on Thursday but as I said that’s not the final step in the process. We’ll wait and see what happens.”

Back in 2020, the General Court of the European Union ruled in favour of Apple and the Irish State’s legal challenge against the Commission’s order for the allegedly unpaid taxes to be handed over. 

Previously, the EU General Court sided with Apple and the Irish State, and said that the Commission failed to prove that the company had received tax advantages from the Irish state. 

The Commission moved to appeal that decision in September 2020. 

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said at the time that the General Court had made a “number of errors of law”. 

Next week, the Court of Justice of the European Union will have the final say on the matter. 

Senior government sources have described the situation as a “phenomenal political quagmire” and said if Ireland loses the case it would be unprecedented as to how it would be decided as to who gets what.

With reporting from Christina Finn.