North West Sligo MEP Marian Harkin says the government has got itself into an embarrassing situation over the Apple tax affair.
MEPs have been reacting to the decision by the European Commission today to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover billions in taxes from Apple.
Last year the commission concluded that Ireland’s tax benefits to Apple were illegal under EU state aid rules.
It demanded that Ireland recoup €13billion from Apple and that it do so by January this year.
However, the government disputed the illegal tax benefit claims and the initial ruling has already been referred to the Court of Justice.
She says the fact that we may be fined by the European Court of Justice for not collecting money deemed to be owed to the Irish state by the European Commission “has a somewhat GUBU ring to it”.
Independent MEP Marian Harkin says Ireland is obliged to collect money regardless of the final court outcome:
