FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton has criticised the European Commission's move to force Apple to pay €13bn of tax.
Mr Bruton, who has also served as EU ambassador to the United States, said he believed the technology company "simply applied for, and was given, an interpretation of the Irish tax law as it stood at the time".
Apple, the world’s largest company, was last month ordered to pay a record-breaking €13bn (£11bn) in back taxes to Ireland.
The American company was presented with the huge bill after the European Commission ruled a sweetheart tax deal between Apple and the Irish tax authorities amounted to illegal state aid.
Writing in the Irish Independent, Mr Bruton said it was "important to say that the Irish government never 'selected' Apple for subsidy".
"Apple, for its own accord, simply applied for, and was given, an interpretation of Irish tax law as it stood at the time (in 1991 and again in 2007)," he wrote.
"Any other company, in a comparable legal and factual situation, could have applied for, and got, a similar ruling."
Mr Bruton added that he believes the EU ruling "creates uncertainty".
"The Commission ruling - going back and revising 10 years of tax liability on grounds of competition policy, rather than of tax law - creates uncertainty for many other companies about their present liabilities," he said.
"At a time when too many companies are failing to invest and are, instead, paying down debt or accumulating piles of cash, this added uncertainty is not good for the revival of the European economy.
"It may even encourage some companies to incorporate or invest outside the EU, where the Competition directorate of the European Commission will not have the same power to issue retrospective directives to national tax authorities."
