The Irish government has decided to appeal against an EU ruling that it should receive 13 billion euros in unpaid taxes from technology giant Apple.
Dublin is siding with the world’s richest company and rejecting the huge windfall for its treasury because it says it “disagrees profoundly” with the EU ruling.
It fears multinational companies would leave Ireland, or not move there, if it is forced to change its tax and business model.
The European Commissioner has ordered the payment on the basis that Apple’s low tax arrangements in Ireland constituted illegal state aid.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has warned if Dublin did not join it in appealing, it would send the wrong message to business in a country whose economic model depends in part on companies like his.
The decision was delayed by five independent members of the minority coalition government holding out against the idea of an appeal.
They agreed after being promised an independent review of the country’s corporate tax system.
The review will assess “what tax multinationals do pay and what they should pay”, said junior minister John Halligan of the Independent Alliance.