US firm repatriates €500m in dividends

AN AMERICAN multi-national company took out dividends of over €500 million from its Irish operations over a two-year period.

Xilinx, which designs computer chips, employs 450 people in Dublin where the company’s European headquarters is located.

Accounts just filed show some €235m in dividends was paid out of Xilinx Ireland in the year to April 2, 2005. In 2004, Xilinx Ireland paid out around €300m in dividends to its California-based parent.