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Apple seems confident about EU judgment on alleged ‘special’ tax deal with Ireland. Recently the company’s CEO Tim Cook announced that he felt ‘pretty good’ about the investigation as Apple unveiled 1,000 new jobs at Cork plant in Ireland.
EU officials currently investigate whether there was a secret deal to promote job growth in exchange of illegal state aid between the U.S. tech giant and Irish lawmakers. During a speech in Ireland’s second city, Cork, Cook said that the outcome of the investigation was uncertain but it won’t affect the new 1,000 jobs which are slated to be in place in two years’ time.
Cook declined that there was a ’special deal’ between his company and the Irish government. He added that he strongly believes that the investigation would reveal that there was nothing wrong.
Nevertheless, if the ruling is ‘adverse,’ the European state plans to appeal and iPhone maker plans to back it up since “there was no special deal, there was no special arrangement,” Cook also said. He added that the company pays its due 12.5 percent corporate tax on income in the country.
With the extra job openings, Apple’s work force in Ireland will jump to 6,000, which accounts for about 25 percent of its staff in the European Union. Apple has been creating new jobs in Cork since 1980, so the company doesn’t plan to leave Ireland any time soon, despite a negative ruling.
Currently, the Hollyhill facility in Cork has 5,000 employees in manufacturing, management of global-supply, financial services, and customer service. Joan Burton from the Irish labor party viewed Apple’s decision as a ‘vote of confidence’ for both Cork and Ireland.
But Apple’s ties with Ireland do not end here. The iPhone maker has also a major partnership with the country’s Sustainable Energy Authority and conducts studies on revamping offshore energy technology.
Apple also sponsors a €1 million fund to back innovative technologies that can capture wave energy and morph it into green energy to power industrial facilities. Early this year, Apple said that it would pump €850 million into a data center in the Irish town of Athenry.
Richard Bruton, the Irish Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, welcomed Apple’s decision. He said that Apple’s moves reflect current economic development of his country. Burton noted that Ireland has already an environment stable and safe enough to lure in foreign companies so they can promote their businesses.
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