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> Apple paid taxes according to the laws that Ireland had at the time.

The TFEU/Lisbon Treaty is law in Ireland and the allegation is that the deal between Apple and the Government was in breach of Article 107, which regulates State Aid.

The ultimate arbiter of whether the deal was lawful is the CJEU. Until decided there, it is uncertain whether Apple acted lawfully.

> The issue is not that Apple did not pay taxes according to the law, it’s that the laws themselves were incompatible with Ireland’s other obligations.

This just fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between member states and the EU. The EU Treaties and subsequent Regulations (although not Directives, which must be transposed into law nationally) are actually laws across the bloc. Not foreign treaties, not state obligations, but actual laws. Furthermore they take precedence over national laws and can be enforced by the bloc at a judicial level.

In addition, whether the Government of the day gave assurances of lawfulness or not, all large enterprises know that only the courts can actually decide whether a deal is lawful or not. This is the same in most democracies, including the US.