Ireland faces European rebuke over Apple

The Department of Finance said it “would be extremely disappointing and unnecessary” if the European Commission was to rebuke the Government over the failure to collect a year-old tax bill of as much as €15bn from Apple.

It comes after it was reported the commission was preparing to issue a so-called non-compliance action as soon as this week. The EU has pushed Ireland to collect the money, which was initially due by January 3.

A spokesman for the department said: “The Government is fully committed to ensuring that recovery takes place without delay and have committed significant resources to this matter.