Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady has said the CJEU verdict finally brings to an end the “shameful mishandling” of the Apple Case that saw this government go to extreme lengths to refuse taxes that were lawfully owed to the state. He described the decision by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to drag the case through the courts for eight years as unforgivable.
Brady said:
“This verdict ends one of the most extraordinary episodes of Irish politics. Over the last 8 years we have seen Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael go to extreme lengths to stop the state collecting taxes that we were lawfully owed.
“If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael got their way, we would be over 13 billion euro worse off. The sheer incompetence with which this has been handled cannot be overstated. I always believed that this ruling was inevitable. The evidence was clear. That is why I was always adamant that the correct decision was to accept the European Commission’s ruling in 2016.
“Instead, we saw the government spend millions upon millions of taxpayers’ money on legal fees acting against the national self-interest.
“It was a colossal mistake by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to put Ireland’s reputation on the line when it was likely they would lose.
“The idea that the government were taking this appeal to protect Ireland’s reputation was never credible. They were covering their own backs.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael knew state aid had been violated when they had overseen the design and administration of this sweetheart deal.
“That is why they have denied reality and resisted accountability at every stage.
“It was only after being repeatedly challenged by Sinn Féin that the Government ended the practice of facilitating stateless companies with no tax residence anywhere in the world.
“This case has never threatened our national sovereignty or our tax code. It concerned the preferential treatment for one company.
“We must remember that Fine Gael, supported by Fianna Fáil, refused to take over 13 billion euro during at a time when they were imposing austerity on people. Austerity that saw Fine Gael cut the blind pension, close hospital beds, cuts to social welfare and the minimum wage.
“We can never fully undo the harm done to people during austerity, but this verdict gives us a chance to finally move on from this shameful episode.”