Full coverage: Multinationals

New documents prepared by the online questionnaire firm in Dublin provide a rare level of detail in the relocation of intellectual property to Ireland common to countless tech multinationals. Meanwhile, the more discreet Mentor Graphics is preparing to repatriate billions out of Shannon.

Exclusive figures compiled by Greenpeace estimate the digital giant’s power demand for its expanding data hosting business in Ireland. The numbers add up, and they show AWS has a long way to go to its full renewable commitment

The doyen of US tech multinationals owns dozens of international subsidiaries and provides billions of dollars in customer finance through its Dublin office. Its new Irish-Dutch structure looks very much like the old one – except tens of billions have left these shores in the past year.

Twitter is the latest multinational to reveal a multi-billion intellectual property onshoring in Ireland, suppressing its tax liability here in the process. The company and its rival Facebook are also bracing for the first significant data protection fines under GDPR.

The social media giant is shutting down its Cayman-resident, Irish-registered holding structure after routing over $40 billion through the low-tax scheme over the past decade. It is not yet clear what role Ireland will play in the group's new corporate arrangements.

In a new unified set of proposals, 137 countries have narrowed down the rulebook that will reallocate tax paid by global firms towards those countries where they really make profits. This would mean lower corporation tax receipts for Ireland – yet a number of key pieces are still missing in the puzzle, awaiting political agreement put on ice by Donald Trump this year.

The rising social network is injecting $200 million into an Irish subsidiary and opening new positions for "Pinployees" here as it ramps up business in Europe, following the model established by other Silicon Valley online giants.

For the past three years, many US tech multinationals have been paying their shareholders more money than they earn. The difference came from Ireland, thanks to tax incentives devised by the Trump administration. That cash is now running out.

So many legal punches have landed on Mallinckrodt that it is facing a knock-out blow at any point. While the disputes engulfing the manufacturer of several controversial drugs unfold in the US, they all link back to the group’s corporate structure and intellectual property vehicles here in Ireland.

Forget the paltry €13 billion under dispute in the state aid case between Ireland, Apple and the EU – the Silicon Valley giant continues to repatriate much bigger cash reserves accumulated here, for the benefit of its ultimate shareholders.