They had a legal agreement with the Irish government. Your gripe should be with the latter. Overseas businesses negotiate with foreign governments and their of

They had a legal agreement with the Irish government. Your gripe should be with the latter. Overseas businesses negotiate with foreign governments and their offerings (tax, employment and other possible advantages) to the foreign country from that government's point of view, will vary. I guess, to put it bluntly, no one in government cares if your small business relocates in Ireland or not but they do care if Apple does. That's life. They should therefore be able to make special arrangements if this is definitely in the interests of the Irish nation. Ireland will argue that their arrangement was within EU law but the courts will decide. Of course if public disquiet (as in your understandable reaction) is intense thanks to 'special arrangements' then a balance has to be struck.