[alkonaut]

How can governments "make deals" with individual companies? Aren't governments making laws and the laws apply to everyone?

Giving a tax break to some specific kind of company (e.g plumbers or taxi companies) sounds dubious but doable.

To my ears this just sounds like the Irish government tried to "make a good deal" with Apple, but the law doesn't allow it. Which sounds obvious.

It feels like a clash of company and government culture: the US one where companies try to get "deals" from states in return for doing business there, and the European one where they can't.

[wonder_er]

Laws apply to everyone, but are selectively enforced. This is why this story is about Apple, and not some no-name mom-and-pop shop that is in equal violation of the law.