TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has said that the €13 billion windfall from the Apple tax case which the State has begun to withdraw from an Escrow fund provides “options” to the Government for the future, but was hesitant to make any commitments.

Yesterday marked the end of a long-running legal saga after the highest court in the EU ruled that Apple must pay Ireland at least €13 billion in unpaid taxes after it was found Ireland gave “unlawful aid” to the firm.

Speaking in Tullamore, Co Offaly for the Fine Gael Party Think In, the Taoiseach welcomed the end of the case and was quick to remind reporters that the legislation the case was based on was legacy tax arrangements.

“I think it was important that the Irish Government, and successive Irish Governments, stood by the independence of our revenue in relation to these matters,” the Taoiseach added.

When asked today what the money may be used for, the Taoiseach said he thinks there are “clear areas” where the funding would seem necessary – such as housing and infrastructure – adding: 

“But, you know, I don’t think it’s useful for everybody to make lots of different suggestions here.”

Harris said that whatever decision is made must be decided by all three parties in Government, but he believes it should be based on what is in the interest of “the Irish people, our country and our economy”.

“I’m sure there’ll be many projects and many areas that will fit that bill,” he added.

When asked to clarify where the money was most likely going to, Harris defended his cautiousness on the subject and claimed that he did not believe it was appropriate to make commitments so soon after the verdict.

He said, he believes, it is a”perfectly responsible” thing for the Government to take time to consider what to do with the funding after receiving the judgement but that, at this time, the money would not be able to fund day-to-day schemes due to its once-off nature.

Harris added: “There’ll be a number of different options – and maybe even a menu of options and maybe even a variety of choices – but it would be, in my view, utterly irresponsible to definitively say, ‘This must happen today’.

“I think the more appropriate thing is for Government to reflect, for a brief period, and then see if the three parties can find common ground,” he added.

European Commissioner for digital policy and competition Margrethe Vestager, who first ruled that Ireland had given “unlawful aid” to Apple eight years ago and followed the case until the end, said yesterday that Ireland can do as it pleases with the funds.

Vestager said: “As I understand now, this is not for us at all and the next thing that will have to happen is that these unpaid taxes that have been in an escrow account will have to be released to the Irish state. What they do with it, is completely up to them.”

But there are some countries that may seek a piece of the pot, the Danish Commissioner warned, adding that more accounting would need to be complete to conclude if other EU nations indeed were entitled to funds from the Escrow account.

This was over previous concerns that the firm may have partaken in “profit shifting” – where funds are moved from one high-tax country to a low-tax country. Any disputes arising out of these claims must be resolved between the individual member states.

Senior Government sources have previously said that there could be some extreme political headaches over determining whether other EU countries are entitled to funds or not, and described the ordeal as a “phenomenal political quagmire”.