The government’s planned “escrow” holding account for tax owed to it by Apple has come under severe attack today (Tuesday), as a “slush fund for investment managers.”

The Workers’ Party was responding to reports that a government-established “escrow” account, set up to put the recouped Apple tax money beyond the state’s reach, would likely yield almost €100 million for investment managers.

Gavin Mendel-Gleason (Workers’ Party representative for Dublin Northwest) said: “The escrow account is a mechanism which allows the government to fulfil the letter of the European Commission’s ruling on Apple’s Irish sweetheart tax deal, but with zero benefit to the Irish exchequer.

“Instead of letting it languish in a vault, it should be used as part of a state driven industrial programme to provide jobs.”

The Workers Party representative called for all details relating to the escrow plan to be released.

“The most significant questions are, who is paying to administer this fund, and who will retain the interest which accrues on the billions deposited in it?

“Given the NTMA has been appointed to source a manager for the fund, the fear is that the Irish tax payer will be paying to safeguard a fund which has been set up to allow Apple to be repaid by the Irish state should their appeal be succesful. This is entirely inappropriate, and against the spirit of the European directive that we recoup taxes owed to us by Apple.”

Mendel-Gleason concluded:
“We can only hope that the European Commission will see this charade for what it is, and direct the Irish government to release all funds from Apple into the exchequer so they can be put to use – and not waste taxpayer money guarding the funds on behalf of Apple.”