4 ms·

Ireland is Apple's European Headquarters (also in Cork). Yet Apple cares so little about Ireland that they don't even bother to make a real apple store availabl

Ireland is Apple's European Headquarters (also in Cork). Yet Apple cares so little about Ireland that they don't even bother to make a real apple store available. The only thing they care about Ireland for is tax avoidance.

harha 2y ago
They're running a business.. it's not like you can't buy any Apple products in Ireland, running a retail store is likely not worth the hassle. As for taxes that's on the EU and member countries for having such a complexity that only massive corporates can benefit, rather than simplifying and making it worthwhile to operate for businesses of all sizes.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  It's not really about buying, it's the support. It's much worse through the incompetent resellers they have in Ireland. But the tax dodging should be eliminated completely, not expanded to smaller businesses :)
  - RickarySanchez 2y ago
    Pretty sure the reason they don't have stores in Ireland is due to taxation agreement with the government. Similar to the Shannon airport thing that started it all
    - piltdownman 2y ago
      Complete nonsense. Their tax minimisation structure involved one Apple company paying royalties to another Apple company for access to IP. How on earth would the retail business, another separate entity, have any impact?
  - Cumpiler69 2y ago
    >But the tax dodging should be eliminated completely, not expanded to smaller businesses :) Tax incentives should be awarded to smaller businesses though while mega-corps should pay more. We can't be surprised that we don't have any great SW giants in Europe when Ireland awards these generous tax breaks to US giants but small EU companies get the full shaft. We have progressiver taxation for income, why doesn't that apply to corporations as well? I mean we do, but it functions the exact opposite of how it should, favoring the giants and strangling the start-ups. And I'm not even a socialist, but the current system is ridiculous.
- Loughla 2y ago
  >As for taxes that's on the EU and member countries for having such a complexity that only massive corporates can benefit Isn't Apple a massive corporation? I don't think I understand your argument here.
  - harha 2y ago
    The parent post argued Apple only cares about tax benefits in Ireland. To me it’s a perfectly valid reason to operate in a country, it’s on the countries to provide an environment where local businesses benefit from low taxes, and not only large corporations like Apple.
piltdownman 2y ago
Ye gods, the usual racism and xenophobia from the peanut gallery across the Atlantic. Apple cared so much about Ireland that they had several licenses grandfathered in for the likes of CompuB, eLara and Mactivate as Apple Resellers. There's also Select Ireland chain which act as the premium reseller equivalent @ https://ie.selectonline.com/ https://ie.selectonline.com/ There's also an Apple store in Belfast fwiw.
- gsck 2y ago
  But Belfast isn't in Ireland. Belfast is in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK, and a separate entity to the Republic Of Ireland. Saying that, the new Apple store in Belfast is nice, much bigger than its previous spot in Victoria Square
  - throwawaymanbot 2y ago
    [dead]
  - piltdownman 2y ago
    Fair, but its an hour commute from Dublin. For most of America, what's the average commute time to a Genius Bar from the suburbs? My general point is that it doesn't really discommode anyone in Ireland not having 'branded' Apple stores in the Republic.
trackofalljades 2y ago
So, like Bono, then?
dangus 2y ago
This is kind of a ridiculous expectation. Next we’ll be expecting an Apple Store to be built in the lithium mine where they get their batteries. The reasons to hire in a locality are almost entirely detached from the reasons to sell a product there. And we can complain about tax avoidance we want, Ireland is getting exactly what they wanted out of their tax policy.

harha 2y ago

They're running a business.. it's not like you can't buy any Apple products in Ireland, running a retail store is likely not worth the hassle. As for taxes that's on the EU and member countries for having such a complexity that only massive corporates can benefit, rather than simplifying and making it worthwhile to operate for businesses of all sizes.

wkat4242 2y ago
It's not really about buying, it's the support. It's much worse through the incompetent resellers they have in Ireland. But the tax dodging should be eliminated completely, not expanded to smaller businesses :)
- RickarySanchez 2y ago
  Pretty sure the reason they don't have stores in Ireland is due to taxation agreement with the government. Similar to the Shannon airport thing that started it all
  - piltdownman 2y ago
    Complete nonsense. Their tax minimisation structure involved one Apple company paying royalties to another Apple company for access to IP. How on earth would the retail business, another separate entity, have any impact?
- Cumpiler69 2y ago
  >But the tax dodging should be eliminated completely, not expanded to smaller businesses :) Tax incentives should be awarded to smaller businesses though while mega-corps should pay more. We can't be surprised that we don't have any great SW giants in Europe when Ireland awards these generous tax breaks to US giants but small EU companies get the full shaft. We have progressiver taxation for income, why doesn't that apply to corporations as well? I mean we do, but it functions the exact opposite of how it should, favoring the giants and strangling the start-ups. And I'm not even a socialist, but the current system is ridiculous.
Loughla 2y ago
>As for taxes that's on the EU and member countries for having such a complexity that only massive corporates can benefit Isn't Apple a massive corporation? I don't think I understand your argument here.
- harha 2y ago
  The parent post argued Apple only cares about tax benefits in Ireland. To me it’s a perfectly valid reason to operate in a country, it’s on the countries to provide an environment where local businesses benefit from low taxes, and not only large corporations like Apple.

piltdownman 2y ago

Ye gods, the usual racism and xenophobia from the peanut gallery across the Atlantic. Apple cared so much about Ireland that they had several licenses grandfathered in for the likes of CompuB, eLara and Mactivate as Apple Resellers. There's also Select Ireland chain which act as the premium reseller equivalent @ https://ie.selectonline.com/ https://ie.selectonline.com/ There's also an Apple store in Belfast fwiw.

gsck 2y ago
But Belfast isn't in Ireland. Belfast is in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK, and a separate entity to the Republic Of Ireland. Saying that, the new Apple store in Belfast is nice, much bigger than its previous spot in Victoria Square
- throwawaymanbot 2y ago
  [dead]
- piltdownman 2y ago
  Fair, but its an hour commute from Dublin. For most of America, what's the average commute time to a Genius Bar from the suburbs? My general point is that it doesn't really discommode anyone in Ireland not having 'branded' Apple stores in the Republic.

trackofalljades 2y ago

So, like Bono, then?

dangus 2y ago

This is kind of a ridiculous expectation. Next we’ll be expecting an Apple Store to be built in the lithium mine where they get their batteries. The reasons to hire in a locality are almost entirely detached from the reasons to sell a product there. And we can complain about tax avoidance we want, Ireland is getting exactly what they wanted out of their tax policy.