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Apple’s vice president of European operations has said that she expects the company to continue to invest heavily and grow in Ireland for years to come.
Cathy Kearney was speaking as Apple celebrates its 40th anniversary in Cork.
The company has invested hundreds of millions of euros in Cork over the past decade and has doubled its workforce there to more than 6,000 people over the past five years.
Its 40th anniversary in Cork comes against a backdrop of high stakes and a protracted court case involving Apple, Ireland and the European Commission. Problems divided public opinion here. In its ruling, the General Court of the European Union found that Apple was not responsible for a tax bill of 13.1 billion euros, which, according to the European Commission, was owed to Ireland.
In an interview with RTÉ News, Cathy Kearney said that she expects the investment to continue, based on the strength of relationships between Apple in Cork and Apple’s US headquarters.
“I really don’t see that changing at all,” Kearney said.
“You look at the bottom, you look at the level of investment, the features and the variety of features that we have here and I can only think optimistically and look at that optimistically in terms of the future of Apple in Ireland.”
She said Ireland had earned Apple’s investment based on the reputation for delivery built by Cork staff over many years.
“You can look around our facilities and you can see that we have spent a lot of money in terms of updating and constantly investing in our facilities, that is not going to change,” said Ms. Kearney.
“As I say, because of the strength of our team, their capabilities, their utter determination to get the job done, I think we just have a very solid reputation with teams globally.”
Apple’s iPhone remains the main revenue generator for the company, but services such as Apple Music, Apple TV + and Apple Fitness + are playing an increasingly important role within the company. Apple in Cork has already started building teams and expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as developer relationships.
Ms. Kearney said these areas were “evolving.”
“On the services side, I think there will be more [growth] and that’s an area that will be interesting for the future, “he said.” Will many jobs materialize? I have no idea. Is it an area of interest? Yes.”
Apple also continues to manufacture on its Cork campus, maintaining a link with the opening of the plant as a manufacturing facility 40 years ago, in November 1980.
The iMac CTO, or configure to order, is manufactured in Cork. This enables customers to effectively ‘build’ their own custom iMac for bespoke configurations. Apple’s Cork campus is unique within the company as it is the only Apple-owned manufacturing location in the world.
Ireland’s cost base generally does not favor manufacturing in this country, compared to other low-cost economies, but Ms Kearney described the case for continuing manufacturing at Apple in Cork as “compelling”, from the point of view. of the customer’s choice and delivery time on delivery.
“We are a long way from China in terms of delivery time and that makes a difference for us; having that capacity within the region is really important to us,” he said.
Last July, in the General Court of the European Union, Apple and Ireland won their appeal against the European Commission’s decision that Apple owed the Irish state € 13.1 billion in unpaid taxes.
Despite that ruling, the issue of Apple’s tax bills in Ireland remains highly contentious for many.
The court overturned the commission’s decision that Ireland had indeed granted state aid to two Apple companies. The European Commission is appealing the case.
Apple insists that it is the world’s largest taxpayer and says it is “possibly” also Ireland’s largest taxpayer.
“They [taxes] they are necessary for public services; they are necessary for hospitals; they are necessary for schools, “said Ms. Kearney,” so it has never been considered that we do not pay what a government has asked of us in any country in the world. We have always paid everything that the Government has told us to pay, we pay and we have done so in all the countries in which we operate. “
He said the state aid case never made Apple question its commitment to Ireland.
Ms Kearney admitted that dealing with Covid had been difficult for Apple, even though it was better placed than many other tech companies.
In 2012, Apple established a pilot program and brought 50 on-site consultants home. The pilot was so successful that the number of ‘Home Counselors’ grew rapidly and exceeded 1,000 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit Ireland last March.
Apple had a plan and was able to make it easier for more staff to work from home when the first wave of Covid-19 gripped this country and restrictions were imposed.
But in a business that relies on creativity and close interaction it was difficult, Kearney said. He insisted that the health and safety of employees was the number one priority for Apple.
“When it hit, everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, what are we doing? What should we do?’ And it was a really challenging moment,” he said. “I think we are in a much more stable and understanding environment now.”
He said manufacturing continued at the site under strict protocols, while many of those who worked at Applecare were able to work from home.
People who work on new product teams participated in the “most prolific period of time in Apple’s history” in terms of product launches, and the challenges they faced working remotely were greater, Ms. Kearney explained.
She said she was surprised and shocked that Apple has been able to continue to launch new products in that environment.
“Hopefully I think there is a little more light on the horizon now, and hopefully that will cheer people up,” he added.
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