Spare a thought for poor Ireland – forced to collect €13bn from Apple against its will
For decades, US corporations have been enticed to funnel profits through the country – will this court decision disrupt our cosy little setup?
F or those who may have missed it: last week, the European court of justice ruled that the Irish government will be forced to collect €13bn in tax from Apple. Against its will, Ireland will receive billions in public money after the court ruled it gave the company illegal tax breaks. The money now lies awkwardly in an escrow account, regarded as something of an embarrassment by the government, which was quick to pour cold water on the idea that the money would change its immediate spending plans.
Ireland has only been ruled by governments of the right and centre-right, which are the masters of lowering expectations and periodically insisting the population don sackcloth and ashes. One finance minister from the 1970s, Richie Ryan, cut such a grim figure that he was parodied as “Richie Ruin” and “the minister for hardship”. A few years later, the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, gave a primetime address to announce that we were “living away beyond our means”. After the 2008 financial crash, another finance minister, Brian Lenihan, neatly shifted blame from his own catastrophic government on to Ireland at large by announcing that, during the boom, “we all partied”.
Economic downturns in Ireland are inevitably framed as morality plays in which the wicked (ordinary people) are punished for their greed (wanting functional public services). The message is clear: nice things cannot happen here. We must obsessively run budget surpluses in admiration and imitation of our German cousins. Extra money cannot and should not be used to fix any of our many social problems.
