Apple tax case to last for years, Teeling expanding, and the latest on Clerys Quarter

The €13 billion Apple tax saga rumbles on, but not in an entirely expected fashion.

On Thursday, the tech giant and the Government suffered a surprising yet major setback when a key adviser to the European Court of Justice recommended that the EU’s highest court set aside a 2020 ruling by a lower court that the European Commission had failed to prove that the tax was owed to the Republic at all. As Joe Brennan reports, the development means the matter is unlikely to come to a close for several more years, with the billions Apple has set aside for the tax bill to stay in escrow until it is decided. The Government has been consistent all along in saying it does not want the money, for reasons outlined by Cliff Taylor.

Elsewhere, Teeling Whiskey has secured an option to acquire a building next door to its distillery in Dublin’s Liberties in a move that will give it scope to double its production capacity as it seeks to grow its global reach. Ciarán Hancock has the story, along with details of Bacardi’s majority stake in the Irish drinks company.

And still in the alcohol (or zero alcohol) business, Ciarán speaks to Barry O’Sullivan, who heads up Diageo in Ireland and has ambitious plans for Guinness 0.0. O’Sullivan also discusses Diageo’s capital investment projects, including the new Guinness Quarter, and explains what drew him back to Ireland from a high-flying job in Australia.

Consumer sentiment slips for fourth month in row

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Helping offshore energy developers factor the impact on nature into their planning process

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To make artificial intelligence safer, use it more

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The race for an AI-powered personal assistant

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Ian Curran moves a bit closer to Dublin City Centre for this week’s long-read Agenda, asking if the new Clerys Quarter on O’Connell Street and the Central Plaza on Dame Street are fit for new trading realities, which are very different from those in play when they were conceptualised.

Back with corporate developments, Ciarán Hancock has details of a deal that sees accounting firm RSM Ireland being acquired by its UK sister firm for about €20 million. The transaction will allow RSM to “accelerate” its long-term Irish growth, it says.

And there was good news for Pat Kenny in the latest radio listenership figures, as reported by Laura Slattery. Kenny’s 9am-12pm programme on Newstalk has seen its listenership rise by 26,000 in recent months to 205,000, marking the first time that a Newstalk show has exceeded 200,000 and helping the station to its highest ever market share.

In his Economics column, John FitzGerald this week looks at what it might take to change consumer behaviour in a way that would adequately respond to climate change. A lot, he concludes, and none of it will be easy.

John Burns tells us in Any Other Business how TikTok called off two meetings with Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney, how Ryanair’s dividend policy has evolved and how RTÉ is seeking a new sponsor with deep pockets for its Today with Claire Byrne radio show.

And finally, if you’re considering a big career move, read about Galway man Ciaran Walshe, who tells Olive Keogh about selling his house, giving up a well-paid job in construction and ploughing all of his savings into setting up a modular homes business.

“It hasn’t been an easy ride, but I don’t regret leaving a well-rewarded corporate career to do something I really believed in for a second,” he says.

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