What's your colleague and nation's leader said about the Apple tax money as it will be used on water, energy, and housing infrastructure? But the relationship with Apple is so key in your meetings here with different technology companies. What have the repercussions of that ruling, Ben? Has it impacted your ability to negotiate other deals and have an ongoing relationship with those companies interested in Ireland? But first of all, I'd say is that we don't negotiate deals. We obviously have a very independent revenue commissioner. It hasn't been referenced at all. I think really people see it as a legacy issue. If we look back over time, these are two decisions taken back in the late nineties, early 2000s in terms of advanced opinions that were issued. And if you look at the prism of our modern tax legislation, which has changed very significantly over the last number of years, we have been a world leader in the BEPS and OECD process. Obviously, having that global taxation

agreement worldwide, and we're seeing the moves of pillar one and pillar two. Europe has been a very early adopter of that process. So, it's really looked at through the prism of all legacy issues and has been raised all because of very much the forefront as a country of transparency. We have one of the highest levels of exchange agreements, and throughout the EU, we have a number of international tax agreements as well, which is very much at the forefront worldwide. So, we're a country that can stand shoulder to shoulder in terms of transparency and also very clearly that we have been a leader in going to the new global taxation ECD process. Mr. Burke, in your meetings this week, I'm sure the election in November, the presidential election, has come up in either outcome. Do you see any tangible impact on the trade and tariff situation as it would impact Ireland? I don't. We've worked with many US presidents

over the years, and we've had a very long-standing close relationship. Obviously, 10% of Americans have Irish heritage. We have nine diplomatic missions here in the US, which we've increased our footprint significantly over the last number of years, and we've continued to do that because we have very strong cultural ties with the United States and obviously share so much heritage, and that will continue. Our diplomatic presence is very strong. We're very privileged to have a stand-alone engagement every single year on St. Patrick's Day in the White House in Washington. And that's also very important to us that that will continue. And this year, we're celebrating 100 years of diplomatic relations, and our shirt will be heading over to the White House to meet President Biden on that occasion. Right. And to celebrate. Absolutely. To celebrate what's wonderful between Irish and American and the great history we've had over the last number of decades. Mr.

Burke, a big focus for this program, Bloomberg Technology for quite a while now has been datacentres, and I understand it's been a focus for you as well. There's somewhat of a moratorium on datacentres particularly, and in Dublin itself. How is that impacting your ability to attract investment, bring new data and infrastructure to the country? Because that is the process that's happening around the world right now. So maybe if I just set out to background first, there is no moratorium in our country. We have a very clear policy at the moment. We obviously have constraints. But going out to 2030, like any country, we have a unique advantage now in terms of our energy capacity. We have a number of offshore regeneration projects that are underway with for contracts signed in the East Coast that's going to have a capacity of about 20 gigawatts up to 2040. A lot of that would be delivered by

2030. And essentially, what we're doing now is we're setting out a roadmap to get to that point. So, our independent regulator, the CRU, is currently going to report in the next number of weeks, which will have a very strong policy on large energy users and will point to the direction towards giving them a roadmap of when they would be able to connect to the grid. So, we're very much open for business. We do know the value that data centers provide, and because we have a very agile economy, a very high-tech economy. Eight out of the top ten global leaders call Ireland their home. Obviously, about 175,000 people employed in that sector, 180 billion in exports, a huge, huge amount of value to the Irish economy. And obviously, we know that data centers are very much key and integral to that process, and that's why we're going to have a sustainable policy to ensure that those who invest here, there are no

surprises. They know what they will get, and we will continue to underwrite their development into the future. Minister, is there any specific plan to use the Apple tax money that is apportioned to energy, specifically for datacentre support? In the context of energy, we're looking at a number of ways to really deploy that funding. Obviously. Firstly, I would say as an economy, we've gone from about three and a half billion capital investments in 2017 up to 14 and a half billion euro now. So you have to look at the capacity of the economy to deliver infrastructure. So we have to be careful in that regard, and we'll be looking at a number of areas. Firstly, obviously in terms of grid and our energy infrastructure, which is very important, we want to keep competitive for the most competitive country in the eurozone, but. Number four in the independent competitive yearbook out of 67 countries.

measured. But we're going to put a good bit into our grid. And secondly, our water and wastewater, which is very important to us and keeping up our skills base, because as a country, we're very clear that our talent is our most prized resource, our people, and we have the most highly skilled, youngest workforce. And in the EU, we have double the graduates of 8%, double the EU average, and also paying down our debt. And, you know, looking at sovereign wealth funds, these two particular funds, and that we will invest significantly into which will underwrite Ireland's future to grow and which is very important to a minister. We started this conversation saying you're on a trade mission, so let's end it by asking how that's gone. Have you been able to attract any new investment this week? It's been very exciting. I've met some many companies,

particularly in the Bay Area here, who are at the very cutting edge of technology. We have a new implementation document with the Bay Area Council, which John Randall, Randolph, and his team. We've put together, you know, tertiary partnerships that are higher education with Stanford and Trinity College and UCC in Cork. A lot of good work has been carried out to grow that relationship with about 160 companies employing 25,000 people in operation with its seventh-largest investor, Ireland, out here. So, it's very much a mutual bilateral relationship as well as those who are employing so many people back home in Ireland. So, that very exciting companies really look forward to attracting new investment, but also critically, Ireland investing more in this area as well, because Enterprise Ireland, one of our key state agencies, along with the idea, is investing heavily in the sector through so many exciting companies with an Irish background.

Apple Tax Boon to Go Toward Housing, Energy

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