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Ireland has been a data center hub for decades - especially thanks to the IDA successfully wooing Microsoft back in 2007 [0], and it helped played a role in hel

Ireland has been a data center hub for decades - especially thanks to the IDA successfully wooing Microsoft back in 2007 [0], and it helped played a role in helping Ireland partially recover from the AIB and housing collapse back in 2008 and become the tech hub it is today. Heck, it was the corneestone of the IDA's tech FDI policy back then [1]. Heck, Google itself only expanded in Ireland back in the 2000s in large part because they worked on acquiring Colt to build their European CoLo in Ireland, and data centers now represent around 18% of Ireland's total GVA [2]. [0] - https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hyperscalers/microsoft-plans-500m-dublin-data-center-update-from-may-2007 https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hyperscalers/microsoft-p... [1] - https://www.siliconrepublic.com/science/ireland-has-the-potential-to-become-the-worlds-green-data-centre-capital https://www.siliconrepublic.com/science/ireland-has-the-pote... [2] - https://www.iiea.com/blog/data-centres-in-ireland-the-state-of-play https://www.iiea.com/blog/data-centres-in-ireland-the-state-...

breppp 3mo ago
That and misappropriating a lot of the taxes of other countries in the process
- alephnerd 3mo ago
  It's not misappropriation. Other countries within the EU could be much more business incorporation and FDI friendly, and IDA Ireland tends to be one of the more competent trade promotion agencies within the EU. Why should Ireland undermine 13% of it's GDP [0]? Edit: can't reply > Telling American multinationals you will have them pay 0 tax isn't exactly a "tax policy" as such Ireland's corporate tax rate is 12.5% but drops to 6.25% if it's qualified R&D and IP income with an added 35% R&D tax credit. It's attractive, but CEE states like Poland and Czechia can (and often do) match that. The biggest attraction for Ireland is the fact that everyone speaks English in Ireland, and Irish tax and corporate legal firms have worked with American firms since the 1990s, which reduces the headache. > Or to 0.005% if you're Apple Which ended in 2014, yet Ireland still remains attractive for tech FDI. At the end of the day, Ireland executed much better than it's developmental peers in the 1990s (Spain, Czechia, Russia, Ukraine, Cyprus, Greece, Argentine, and Libya in 1991 based on HDI) simply because it was much more business friendly. [0] - https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/ireland-digital-economy https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/ireland-digi...
  - stefan_ 3mo ago
    Telling American multinationals you will have them pay 0 tax isn't exactly a "tax policy" as such.
    - infinite_spin 3mo ago
      A parking structure owned by a shopping center might offer free parking in order to drive business goals. That's as much a policy as it would be if they were to charge a fee.
  - Hamuko 3mo ago
    >Ireland's corporate tax rate is 12.5% but drops to 6.25% if it's qualified R&D and IP income with an added 35% R&D tax credit. Or to 0.005% if you're Apple. >The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years. In fact, this selective treatment allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1 per cent on its European profits in 2003 down to 0.005 per cent in 2014.
  - bawolff 3mo ago
    > Why should Ireland undermine 13% of it's GDP Undercutting other countries on tax policy tends to piss them off. So it comes down to whether the benefits of the policy outweigh the blowback. The 13% of GDP figure can be a bit misleading as GDP from being a tax haven tends to help the average irish citizen a lot less than more traditional ecconomic activity.
    - alephnerd 3mo ago
      > The 13% of GDP figure can be a bit misleading as GDP from being a tax haven tends to help the average irish citizen a lot less than more traditional ecconomic activity As I pointed out, if Ireland didn't adopt it's tech FDI policy which it did in the 1990s, it would be a much poorer country today. Going from Libyan, Soviet, and Greek to Finland level living standards in 30 years was not guaranteed, and it was Ireland's business friendly policies is what ensured it became a tech hub today and didn't fall into the middle income trap - especially in 2008-12 when Ireland was also in the midst of a Greece style economic meltdown (remember the PIGS?) Ireland was a developing country in the 1990s, and if they executed better than then much richer Western European states like Germany, France, the UK, and Canada then so be it. > GDP from being a tax haven tends to help the average irish citizen a lot less than more traditional ecconomic activity. I've been using HDI which isn't severely impacted by GDP per capita. And even then, Ireland's median household income [0] is now significantly higher than the UK [1] despite living standard in the UK having been significantly higher than Ireland's until the 2010s because of Ireland's FDI policy. > Undercutting other countries on tax policy tends to piss them off Other EU member states such as Poland and Czechia also match Ireland's incentives when asked, which has helped both Czechia and Poland now catch up to historically richer France, Italy, and the UK. [0] - https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-silc/surveyonincomeandlivingconditionssilc2025/householdincome/ https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-silc/surv... [1] - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2024 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personal...

breppp 3mo ago

That and misappropriating a lot of the taxes of other countries in the process

alephnerd 3mo ago
It's not misappropriation. Other countries within the EU could be much more business incorporation and FDI friendly, and IDA Ireland tends to be one of the more competent trade promotion agencies within the EU. Why should Ireland undermine 13% of it's GDP [0]? Edit: can't reply > Telling American multinationals you will have them pay 0 tax isn't exactly a "tax policy" as such Ireland's corporate tax rate is 12.5% but drops to 6.25% if it's qualified R&D and IP income with an added 35% R&D tax credit. It's attractive, but CEE states like Poland and Czechia can (and often do) match that. The biggest attraction for Ireland is the fact that everyone speaks English in Ireland, and Irish tax and corporate legal firms have worked with American firms since the 1990s, which reduces the headache. > Or to 0.005% if you're Apple Which ended in 2014, yet Ireland still remains attractive for tech FDI. At the end of the day, Ireland executed much better than it's developmental peers in the 1990s (Spain, Czechia, Russia, Ukraine, Cyprus, Greece, Argentine, and Libya in 1991 based on HDI) simply because it was much more business friendly. [0] - https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/ireland-digital-economy https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/ireland-digi...
- stefan_ 3mo ago
  Telling American multinationals you will have them pay 0 tax isn't exactly a "tax policy" as such.
  - infinite_spin 3mo ago
    A parking structure owned by a shopping center might offer free parking in order to drive business goals. That's as much a policy as it would be if they were to charge a fee.
- Hamuko 3mo ago
  >Ireland's corporate tax rate is 12.5% but drops to 6.25% if it's qualified R&D and IP income with an added 35% R&D tax credit. Or to 0.005% if you're Apple. >The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years. In fact, this selective treatment allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1 per cent on its European profits in 2003 down to 0.005 per cent in 2014.
- bawolff 3mo ago
  > Why should Ireland undermine 13% of it's GDP Undercutting other countries on tax policy tends to piss them off. So it comes down to whether the benefits of the policy outweigh the blowback. The 13% of GDP figure can be a bit misleading as GDP from being a tax haven tends to help the average irish citizen a lot less than more traditional ecconomic activity.
  - alephnerd 3mo ago
    > The 13% of GDP figure can be a bit misleading as GDP from being a tax haven tends to help the average irish citizen a lot less than more traditional ecconomic activity As I pointed out, if Ireland didn't adopt it's tech FDI policy which it did in the 1990s, it would be a much poorer country today. Going from Libyan, Soviet, and Greek to Finland level living standards in 30 years was not guaranteed, and it was Ireland's business friendly policies is what ensured it became a tech hub today and didn't fall into the middle income trap - especially in 2008-12 when Ireland was also in the midst of a Greece style economic meltdown (remember the PIGS?) Ireland was a developing country in the 1990s, and if they executed better than then much richer Western European states like Germany, France, the UK, and Canada then so be it. > GDP from being a tax haven tends to help the average irish citizen a lot less than more traditional ecconomic activity. I've been using HDI which isn't severely impacted by GDP per capita. And even then, Ireland's median household income [0] is now significantly higher than the UK [1] despite living standard in the UK having been significantly higher than Ireland's until the 2010s because of Ireland's FDI policy. > Undercutting other countries on tax policy tends to piss them off Other EU member states such as Poland and Czechia also match Ireland's incentives when asked, which has helped both Czechia and Poland now catch up to historically richer France, Italy, and the UK. [0] - https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-silc/surveyonincomeandlivingconditionssilc2025/householdincome/ https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-silc/surv... [1] - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2024 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personal...