Tim Cook Reaffirms Apple's Commitment to Ireland After Tax Dispute and Abandoned Data Center Plans

[MacRumors]

Just weeks after Apple abandoned its plans to build a $1 billion data center in Ireland, and amid a major Irish tax dispute with the European Commission, Apple CEO Tim Cook ensures his company remains committed to the country.

In a recent interview with The Irish Times, Cook said Apple appreciated the support it received from the community who wanted the data center to be there, and reaffirmed Apple's commitment to Ireland as a whole.

"We loved the community there. Fortunately we had great support from the community who wanted us there. That's probably the biggest disappointment from our point of view; we felt we could have been in the community and made a lot of friends like we had in Cork and grown the relationship over time," Cook said. "But we understand and respect the process."

Of course, not all local residents wanted the data center there, as concerns were raised about its potential effects on local animals, flooding on a neighboring golf course, and its close proximity to a shut-down nuclear power plant.

Last October, Apple finally won approval for construction by the Irish High Court, after an appeal by two individuals against the decision was dismissed. However, the appellants decided to take their case to the country's Supreme Court, resulting in Apple abandoning its plans just before the hearing was to occur.

"Despite our best efforts, delays in the approval process have forced us to make other plans and we will not be able to move forward with the data centre," Apple said in a statement ahead of the Supreme Court heading on Thursday.

"While disappointing, this setback will not dampen our enthusiasm for future projects in Ireland as our business continues to grow," the company said, citing plans to expand its European headquarters in County Cork where it employs over 6,000 people.

Cook added that Apple "didn't come to Ireland for tax," nearly two years after the European Commission ruled that the company received illegal aid from the country, ordering it to repay 13 billion euros to the country. Apple and Ireland are both appealing the ruling, as escrow payments begin for now.

"We came to Ireland in 1980 because we saw a community we thought we could grow, and could do a number of things to support the continent. We've stayed on course on that over almost four decades. It hasn't been a straight line - life isn't a straight line, things go up and down - but it's always been in a trajectory that is increasing. I don't anticipate that changing."

Cook visited Ireland this week, where he met with the country's head of government Leo Varadkar in Dublin, before heading to Cork, where Apple's European headquarters are located. Apple recently expanded the campus with a new building that provides space for an additional 1,400 employees.

Apple's recently updated European Job Creation page reveals that it now supports 1.7 million jobs across Europe, including around 1.5 million jobs attributable to the App Store ecosystem, some 17,000 of which are based in Ireland.

Apple's website notes that it "has been based in Cork for over 35 years and now directly employs 6,000 people throughout Ireland supporting all aspects of the business." The company also says its Irish team has "doubled in size over the last five years and includes over 80 different nationalities."

All in all, this amounts to a good PR campaign for Apple, echoing much of what it said in its Message to the Apple Community in Europe a few years ago.

Article Link: Tim Cook Reaffirms Apple's Commitment to Ireland After Tax Dispute and Abandoned Data Center Plans

 

[dannyyankou]

Cook added that Apple "didn't come to Ireland for tax,"

Sorry Tim, but anyone with a business major, or anyone with a thread of common sense for that matter, knows you’re BSing

 

[pezdavis]

"Of course, not all local residents wanted the data center there, as concerns were raised about its potential effects on local animals, flooding on a neighboring golf course, and its close proximity to a shut-down nuclear power plant."

Not true. The nuclear plant is in a different country (Wales), and was only mentioned because Apple wanted its data center hundreds of km from any nuclear plant, abandoned or not. The article cited only points out that this seems to be an invented criterion from Apple, nobody was raising concerns about that.

 

[pete2106]

Sorry Tim, but anyone with a business major, or anyone with a thread of common sense for that matter, knows you’re BSing

I don't know. It depends on if he said it using that phoney voice he puts on at the beginning of keynotes when he prattles on about how inspiring iPhones are.

 

[grad]

So, this 1.7m is practically the 1.5m iOS (sorry Mac) developers that have to pay money to Apple in order to be allowed to develop/deploy/sell something, the 17k that help preparing Irish-Dutch "sandwiches" and ?

 

[stevie grant]

"Cook added that Apple "didn't come to Ireland for tax..."

Bullsh*t.

 

[69650]

Cook’s comments would be funny if they weren’t so ridiculous and such an obvious lie.

 

[topgunn]

Cook added that Apple "didn't come to Ireland for tax,"

Of course they didn't go to Ireland for the taxes. They went for the lack of taxes.

 

[HailstormX]

Boy he's seems to be committed to a lot of things unfortunately the Mac is not one of them...

 

[shadowmatt]

If you love Ireland / the community so much, why not pay taxes as that goes towards running the community.

 

[canonical]

If his commitment to Ireland is anything like his 'commitment' to the Mac, then Ireland is in trouble.

 

[shadowmatt]

Of course they didn't go to Ireland for the taxes. They went for the lack of taxes.

Well when you explain it like that it makes much more sense.

 

[macfacts]

Cook’s comments would be funny if they weren’t so ridiculous and such an obvious lie.

He isn't under oath so he knows he can lie as much as he wants with out consequences.

 

[lcseds]

If his commitment to Ireland is anything like his 'commitment' to the Mac, then Ireland is in trouble.

Yeah, they shouldn't get too excited about any "commitment" by Tim.

 

[69Mustang]

Sorry Tim, but anyone with a business major, or anyone with a thread of common sense for that matter, knows you’re BSing

100% agree. Anyone who knows me knows that I generally like Cook and the job he's done at Apple. He's grown the company to an unbelievable level. That like is countered by my dislike of his disingenuous way of double speaking and pious self promotion.

You're a businessman running a business; not some altruistic saint making the world a better place. Sell your phones bud. It's what you do best.

 

[Dangermen]

ugh, comment on wrong thread.

 

[Defthand]

​

Why is that kid using a laptop instead of an iPad? Is Ireland a Third World country?

(That’s sarcasm, of course.)

 

[chowmein]

But can he reaffirm Apple's commitment to Mac hardware though?

 

[citysnaps]

I love it how so many get frothed up whenever Tim Cook is written about.

It is kind of strange people willingly give him so much power over their lives.

 

[justperry]

Somehow this picture associates me of some alien spaceship, except maybe for the door behind.
And, it's too bright.

As for the data centre, good that it got canceled at that spot, why cut a lot of trees while just a few 100 meters down the road they had clear land, hypocrisy much....

 

[busuan]

Update that MacBook Air. Did that kid know that hardware specs are way out of date?

 

[CWallace]

I love it how so many get frothed up whenever Tim Cook is written about.

It is kind of strange people give willingly him so much power over their lives.

Indeed, considering Apple has been in Ireland since 1980, which is almost two decades before Tim joined the company.

 

[Tech198]

Apple can only lie because they can, just like with the government. Must be some internal business decision thing to keep it 'secret' as not cause an outbreak, even though everyone else knows it.

People reckon as long the truth doesn't come out of their own mouth, its a cover, despite 90% of the public reckon otherwise.

(That's a pretty big portion to disbelief )

 

[charleswhalley]

Boy he's seems to be committed to a lot of things unfortunately the Mac is not one of them...

Agreed. Getting really demoralised about the state of the Mac. Get a grip Tim and don’t screw the heritage of this great company. We need updates and we need them sooooon!

 

[busyscott]

I can't imagine him getting bad press if he came out and truthfully stated, "We really liked the low taxes here, and now the EU wants to tax us to death, so we'll take our business elsewhere (literally)"

I wouldn't fault him for that one bit. In fact, I'm sure his shareholders would be pleased to hear that. Frankly, it just makes Ireland and, more specifically, the EU looks foolish for losing a major investment from the *soon to be* first trillion dollar company ever.

But alas, I'm talking about Tim Cook, the guy has a gift for making me hate anything and everything he says.