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THE STATE HAS begun the search for the financiers that could hold onto billions of euro in back taxes the EU Commission says Apple owes to Ireland.
The EU Commission ruled last year that the State gave the multinational tech giant illegal state aid worth up to €13 billion over a decade.
The Department of Finance is appealing the decision because it denies that there was any sweetheart deal in place.
Despite the appeal, Ireland is obliged to collect the funds and hold them in escrow until the appeal process is concluded.
On Sunday evening the National Treasury Management published a notice on the E-Tenders website seeking an agency to handle the multi-billion euro escrow.
The Department of Finance has said that the size of the fund is yet to be confirmed but may be between €13-15 billion, including EU interest.
The tender notice reads:
The NTMA, together with Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE), is seeking expressions of interest for the provision of escrow agency and custodian services which Ireland is required to recover from ASI and AOI.
The notice concludes by saying the duration of the escrow “cannot be fixed” because of the ongoing appeals process but that is expected to remain in place pending the outcome of the appeals.
Financial agencies interested in submitting a tender application are directed to do it electronically and the NTMA has said that it envisages up to five candidates will be considered.
The contract notice will also be published on an EU-wide tenders website and the Department of Finance said in a statement that it expects the procurement process to last for five months.
The sheer size of the funds involved has caused a delay in the collection process with Ireland missing the initial collection deadline back in January.
“Given the scale and bespoke nature of such a fund, the precise terms are still being negotiated and are subject to confidential and commercially sensitive considerations but will involve the appointment of independent third-party service providers,” the department said.
The EU’s Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager previously stated that Ireland was “taking too long” to recover the funds from Apple.
Vestager acknowledged that it was a complicated process when Ireland missed the initial deadline but said in May that she hoped Ireland would collect the funds “very soon”.
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Unbeelievable
Bee what your are. Could they bee any more Cork now saying what bhoy what bhoy over and again. Like that gobshee Niall Boylan when he had a strong common Dublin accent man fighting on air with a common strong Cork accent. It a fight everyone wanted to bee at but gob Niall had to butt in just when comedy gold was about to made.
I, for one, welcome our new bee overlords.
Joe Duffy “they are wreaking my buzz”
@Crístóir Ó Duinn: They look busy.
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. It’s wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway, because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible.
@H Mc: Irish Aviation Authority regulate flying in Ireland. Their “laws” don’t apply to bees.
@Chemical Brothers: do ya like jazz?
Great to see bees making a fightback.If they disappear we disappear.
Must have been some buzz
Wow! Wish I was there to catch them! Caught two swarms in Dublin today, great stuff! I love the summer!!
Just remember to beecareful.
great buzz round the town
Bejasus!
Riveting
Normal behaviour, leave them be, it’s just nature, etc., I don’t care, of I see a swarm approaching I’m hotfooting it to the nearest lake or other body of water.
@Maria Hickey-Fagan: bees only sting in defence. No need for you to be so dramatic.
Some man for the puns in Pádraig
Buzz Killington Dave
@Ted Logan: Hey! Words hurt you know
@Dave – Stinging
Beewitching.
Gowan da bees!
Nothing to see here buzz off
“Just leave them bee”
@Nydon: Bee (adj):
To buzz around in a stripey little body with functionally inadequate wings.
@Nydon: Human beeing:
To wear yellow and black striped clothing.
@Nydon: Beeing serious:
Add flimsy wings to the stripey shirt and wear a black balaclava.
@Nydon: You’re an idiot
They were heading to Niall Macs for a pint by all accounts….
Don’t go on any unnecessary journeys!
“Honey I’m home”
Bizzybodies the lot of ye
Knocked a bee hive in a ditch one time when I was young , not nice , 13 or 14 stings, they were in my tee shirt when I got home
Great to see. Hopefully, our pollinators are making a comeback. People should stop killing wasps etc as well. They are all Pollinators.
It’s unbeelievable the buzz that this story has generated.
Has the distillery any influence on the visit?
The apocalypse
@Michael Sexton: yeh that remark was weird
Would expect to see a blue rinse outside with a tin of Vapona
Who the hell has “their local bee keeper”?
@Chicken George: i know 3 places near where i live that keep bees. Youd be suprised. No pun intended
@cp: I know a few also but they’re not exactly part of the emergency services on standby in case there’s a swarm. I can only imagine the reaction if I rang up and asked him to come in to town to deal with it. “I will in me bollix”
@Chicken George: funnily enough Midleton has an unusually high population of beekeepers! Genuinely!
@Chicken George: many moons ago in a kingdom far far away the government in its infinite ” wisdom ” cut some 600 trees to widen a road , swarms of bees invaded the houses and some young dude got killed for being allergic , when called the local bee dude gave this exact response you said there, lucky for us my mom having the room assailed sudden by bees called me da ( he work with insects and their pathogens ) and he came over with that white get up they have and took this one bee with him
And all the others followed out . She was bigger than the others . He also warned us smallies do not kill any and do not go near it . So maybe someone upset their home place or the bank repossess their hive? Bees do not just go into Middleton on a Saturday to get their messages no .
I’d hate to bee in middle of that!
As a swarm they are suppose to be placid?
have your say