Demise of Double-Irish ‘will pose a challenge’
That was the view yesterday of former Apple chief executive John Sculley who said Ireland’s talent base was strong enough to cope with the removal of what he referred to as the special “tax holiday”. The Government announced in last month’s budget, the tax advantage is to be abolished.
“It is going to be a challenge to get as much enthusiasm for international companies to locate in Ireland if there’s a tax advantage somewhere else... if every [company in Ireland] loses its advantage it will be a problem.
“Fortunately there’s a lot of talent in Ireland so I don’t think it’ll be an insurmountable problem but it’ll take the edge off of things if the tax advantages do go away,” said Mr Sculley.
Speaking at the Web Summit in Dublin, Mr Sculley said of all the countries in which he did business, Ireland stood out from the rest.
This week, he launched a range of low-cost smartphones in Singapore with his company Obi Mobiles. He identified the IDA as a particular strength for the country and one that would help ensure Ireland remained an attractive location for multinational firms like Apple — which employs almost 4,000 people at its European headquarters on the northside of Cork city.
“When I was with Apple, we were the first high-tech company to re-locate to Ireland and I can tell you from experience, the competence of the Irish Development Board was exceptional; that was a big motivator for us to come to Ireland in both the case of Pepsi and Apple.
“I’ve located businesses in many different parts of the world but I have to say Ireland and Singapore are the two top in the world so I think even without the special tax holiday advantages, Ireland has a lot to contribute: hard-working people, high immigration from other parts of the EU — talent coming to Ireland, so those are all attractive [elements].”
Meanwhile, two Irish companies announced major deals at yesterday’s Web Summit.
Cloud telecoms provider Blueface signed a world exclusive deal with Japanese tech giants Panasonic worth €900,000.
The collaboration will see the two businesses launch a new range of IP phones — which can significantly reduce phone costs and are aimed at the SME sector — which will be available solely in Ireland through Blueface.
The handset plugs into a broadband router and eliminates the need for wires by working over a wireless network.
Elsewhere, Cork-based forest-technology company Treemetrics signed a €500,000 agreement with Romanian company Silvador.
The deal, which Treemetrics co-founder Enda Keane said also had a substantial recurring revenue element each year going forward, allows Silvador to properly assess the scale and value of forests — a solution Keane says is required across the world, especially in Ireland where €2bn worth of timber is to come to market in the next 10 years.
