(Bloomberg) -- Ireland will dedicate the nearly €14 billion ($15.6 billion) tax bill it’s receiving from a recent Apple Inc. court ruling for housing, energy and water infrastructure, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said.
Harris said that he will use his upcoming budget plan to outline his plans for the unexpected windfall, which is the equivalent of 14% of government spending this year, or some €2,700 for every man, woman and child.
“There is no doubt housing and housing supply is the most serious economic and social issue in Ireland,” Harris said in a interview Wednesday on Bloomberg Television. “I think it’s appropriate in our budget that we provide clarity as to the principles we’ll apply, as to how to invest it.”
Harris is days away from delivering a budget proposal that has been boosted by anticipated record corporate tax receipts from the outsize number of multinationals based in Ireland — and that doesn’t even count the Apple windfall. Despite that, the revenue has yet to be meaningfully translated into fixes for Ireland’s major infrastructure challenges, as it faces a chronic housing shortage, water constraints and a stretched electricity grid.
“We need in Europe to not be in any way complacent about our competitiveness,” he said, adding he expects to see an ambitious agenda from the incoming European Commission on that topic. “We have a lot of work to do in relation to that.”
The Apple windfall, which is the result of an order by the European Union’s top court for Apple to pay the bill, isn’t something the Irish government sought. Indeed, Ireland has always maintained that it didn’t think Apple owed these taxes.
But the EU’s Court of Justice backed a landmark 2016 decision that Ireland broke state-aid laws by giving the company tax benefits that resulted in an unfair advantage.
The windfall does give Harris a significant political tool as he faces a March 2025 deadline to call a new election. Speculation has mounted that he could decide to call a snap vote sooner, particularly after he received a bounce in the polls since becoming leader of the Fine Gael party earlier this year.
Harris said in the interview that he isn’t planning an election for November, adding, “It’s more about deciding and arriving at the best and most appropriate time when you can honestly say, ‘This government has done its work, and now is the time to have the election.’”
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