Any loss of value to the Apple escrow fund will not impact taxpayers

Fund remains in place until court decision 

The net assets of the fund in the last accounts for the fund in 2020 were €13.98m. File Picture Dan Linehan

Taxpayers will not be on the hook for any loss of value to the Apple escrow fund the Secretary General of the Department of Finance John Hogan has said.

During an Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, Fianna Fáil TD Cormac Devlin asked Mr Hogan if there would be an impact to the State if the fund continued to lose value due to negative interest rates.

In August 2016, the European Commission ordered Ireland to recover from Ireland the alleged State aid plus interest related to a 10 year period from 2003 up to 2014. Ireland has appealed this decision, however government complied with the obligation to recover the sum of €13.1bn plus interest of €1.2bn.

It was decided between both Apple and the Irish government that the funds be held in an escrow fund until the legal process has been completed.

The net assets of the fund in the last accounts for the fund in 2020 were €13.98m. The €36m decline for the year were down to negative yields and interest rate environment on highly rated eurozone bonds.

"The agreement that will be reached with Apple is that the pot is the pot at the end of the day. Whatever is there, whether it’s above or below whoever emerges at the end as the holder of the fund benefits from the entirety of the fund,” said Mr Hogan.

Latest figures for the Apple escrow fund are currently being finalised and audited however it is expected that the fund will continue to take a hit from negative interest rates caused by monetary policy by the European Central Bank.

“What we noted through the 2020 period is the decline of the value of the fund which is very much linked to the negative interest rate environment,” said Mr Hogan.