A small matter of €13 billion. The decision of the European Commission to tell Ireland to collect €13 billion in back tax from Apple dominated all else during the week.

The news broke on Tuesday morning, when European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager held a press conference in Brussels. She announced that the commission had confirmed a preliminary finding reached in 2014 that Ireland had provided Apple with illegal state aid via two tax rulings which the Revenue Commissioners had provided to the US multinational in 1991 and 2007.

And then came the bombshell, with the announcement that the commission felt Ireland should recoup €13 billion from Apple for taxes owed back over a 10-year period. It appears the Government heard the scale of the figure only the previous day, as it had hoped up to then for a figure that was a fraction of this total.

We have not seen the full ruling – and may not do so for some months yet. But the commission press release focused on the two specific tax rulings issued by the Revenue and how they allowed Apple to account to transfers within companies based in Ireland.

Apple was out immediately disputing the verdict, and it was quickly clear that it had the support of the US government. The US treasury had already issued a warning shot through the issue of a White Paper the previous week, accusing the commission of unfairly targeting US multinationals. We have still to see how the US will move on this one and whether threats to consider retaliatory measures are carried through.

Senior Fine Gael Ministers also immediately rejected the ruling and signalled that the Government would appeal. However the Government had not expected the huge figure and its reaction reflected this. There was no Government press conference and talk of an immediate Cabinet meeting was shelved, in favour of one on Wednesday. It quickly became clear that several Independent Ministers had reservations.

The European courts will now be left to decide. But in the meantime Ireland is on the defensive and back in the international focus on the contentious issue of corporate tax. As if the Brexit hit was not enough, the Apple decision has now cast another uncertainty over the economic outlook, with no one quite sure what its impact will be on foreign direct investment.

The chance to have your voice heard in the Central Bank's review of its mortgage-lending rules came to a close this week, with the regulator reporting 50 submissions to its consultation process, 24 of which came from individuals.

The regulator asked for “evidence-based submissions”, which may explain the relatively low response rate this time around; when it held its first review ahead of the introduction of the rules, some 157 submissions were received.

Unsurprisingly, many of the submissions it received have called for substantial changes in the rules, which, it has been claimed by a survey commissioned by 11 property industry organisations and published this week, have hit the “majority” of mortgage seekers.

The Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), for example, urged the Central Bank to relax the loan-to-value (LTV) rules. It wants the threshold below which first-time buyers have to pay only a 10 per cent deposit to be lifted to €300,000, up from the current level of €220,000, and it also called for equity release to pay for home improvements to be exempt from the rules. The Construction Industry Federation has also called for an increase in the ceiling, up to €330,000.

But not everyone is calling for change. In his submission Brendan Burgess, founder of consumer website askaboutmoney.com, rejected suggestions that the problems facing first-time buyers were related to the mortgage rules. The problem, he said, is the lack of supply and the high prices of houses.

“Relaxing the lending rules would not ameliorate these problems,” he argued.

Indeed despite the imposition of the rules, we also learned this week that mortgage approvals jumped by almost a fifth in the year to July. So who’s right?

Well, the regulator will make up its own mind ahead of the November publication of its review. Given its recent assertions on the subject, significant changes appear unlikely.

It was a busy week on the reporting front locally with CPL, Datalex, Eir, Fyffes, Grafton, ICG and Total Produce among those to update investors.

Fruit importer Fyffes said it was sticking to its full-year profit targets despite currency fluctuations. Total Produce, which was spun out of Fyffes a decade ago, reported strong first-half results with revenue up 10 per cent to €1.9 billion.

Underwhelming figures from its key UK operation dampened a strong recovery by builders merchants Grafton in Ireland and the Netherlands. The group said it plans to close a number of branches in the UK as it prepares for a Brexit-related slowdown in the UK construction market.

Talking of Brexit, Irish Ferries owner ICG said Britain’s vote to leave the European Union had a brief impact on tourism bookings but not enough to cause serious damage. The group reported a 19.6 per cent rise in first-half earnings.

Eir, formerly known as Eircom, reported its first annual revenue growth since 2008, while recruitment firm CPL Resources enjoyed a record year for the 12 months to the end of June on the back of increased demand for both permanent and temporary staff.

Elsewhere, software firm Datalex announced a rise in first-half revenue and earnings but also reduced its 2016 guidance by about 4 per cent as it seeks to scale the business.

This week it was also confirmed that Iseq heavyweight CRH will rejoin Europe’s leading blue-chip stocks index, the Euro Stoxx 50, this month after the building materials giant’s shares surged in value in the past six weeks.

Signs remain reasonably positive for the domestic economy. Retail sales rose 12.6 per cent in July compared with the previous month, though this was largely due to a huge rise in car sales, as the 162 registration plates came into operation.

Sales were also up 6.3 per cent compared with July 2015, according to Central Statistics Office figures. However, once sales of motor cars are excluded, retail sales declined by 0.5 per cent from June to July and were up a more modest 2.7 per cent on an annual basis. The Irish consumer is spending, it appears, but generally cautiously.

Some retailers are doing well, however, with Harvey Normal revealing that it boosted sales at its 13 Irish stores by more than 10 per cent to €170 million in the 12 months to the end of June.