Bonum Certa Men Certa

Apple Tax funds: railways, defective concrete blocks in Ireland's North and West

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 08, 2024

Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock.

Ireland has recently been told we have to accept and spend the long disputed EUR 14 billion of tax on the Apple computer business.

We are now approaching a general election where the political parties are likely to make promises about how they spend the money.

This is one good reason for having the election three months early: Ireland can have a public debate about the money before the government starts to sign contracts and write cheques. The new government, whoever it is, will hopefully have both a mandate and the competence to use the money wisely.

Apple may be one of Ireland's biggest tax payers but they don't get a vote as a company. Employees who are Irish citizens will be able to vote. Nonetheless, Apple is giving us giant hints that nobody has commented on publicly so far.

We can use OpenStreetmap to look at the location of Apple's headquarters in California and we can see two things very quickly.

The first are the railways. Railway lines are a big issue throughout Ireland. In many cases, the railways are already there but they are poorly maintained and they haven't been used for years. The railway that passes on the north side of Apple is the Caltrain peninsula line.

Hopefully the new government will see this as some kind of an omen and use some Apple money for rail infrastructure projects.

On the south side of Apple's HQ is the Vasona Industrial Lead and look where it goes, the local cement quarry. Of course, this is the other big issue in the North and West of Ireland but it is also an issue for Ireland as a whole. There are thousands of families in counties Donegal, Mayo and to a lesser extent in other regions who have suffered from the use of defective concrete in their homes. Many of the homes need to be totally rebuilt. It is a scandal that has been going on for years. There is a risk of fatal accidents and suicides by stressed homeowners. On top of that, people regularly ask why there are so few financial companies offering products like insurance and mortgages in the Irish republic. The unusual and uncertain nature of defective houses may deter more financial companies from offering services to Ireland as a whole.

The poor regulation of concrete production in Ireland reminds me of JuristGate, the crisis in the legal insurance industry in Switzerland. People seemed to know that something was wrong with the product for many years before the consumers found out they had been sold a lemon.

JuristGate

The City of Cupertino provides an interactive web site where we can see the real time impact of quarry dust on local residents like Apple, their employees and families.

News reports describe over 2,100 code violations, $12.7 million in penalties paid by quarry operators and complaints by the local community. Yet none of them refer to the supply of defective concrete blocks. The concrete produced there was of the highest standard, among other things, they supplied all the US military facilities throughout the entire Pacific region in WW2.

Here is the map of the region. Is there a hidden message in it that Apple tax revenues should be spent on trains and 100 percent redress for defective concrete?

Apple, Cupertino, tax, Ireland, defective concrete, railways

 

Daniel Pocock, Galway, Dail, Ireland

Act now: elections, donations, your support makes a difference

If you care about this issue, please read more about how you can support my work.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 15, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 15, 2025
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: Rainy Season and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Military Games, Parade, and Actions
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, and Wars
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: "AI Fatigue and Crappiness"
Links for the day
Microsoft Attack Dogs Against Watchdogs and Guard Dogs in Software
Last year Microsofters hired attack dogs or "guns for hire"
Slop Cannot Replace Domain Expertise
All this "AI" hype (it's not even intelligence, it's all a misnomer, as many of us have insisted all along) will fizzle and be written off as a failed experiment
IBM's Fresh 'PIPs' (Action Before Layoffs)
At times like these, even once-reputable employers resort to PIPs and other procedures/tricks for denial of workers' rights
Microsoft is a Problem Not Just for Denmark
Every country should consider what Denmark is doing, why Denmark is doing it, and then do the same
The Slopfarms' Self Detonation
If more sites like BetaNews go under, then maybe we can still salvage some of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 14, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 14, 2025
Links 14/06/2025: FDA Changes Priorities, Cassette Data Storage From The 1970s
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Steam Next Fest and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Site/Datacentre Maintenance Next Week
speed things up
Bulgaria: GNU/Linux Near 10%
The Bulgarian market seems to be changing
I Never Spoke to BetaNews. But BetaNews Wants to Ensure I Never Will, Either.
Sometimes just the reluctance to talk about it can say a great deal
Throwing Money at Lawyers Can't Stop Us (It Never Did)
Even just trying to censor things can result in the opposite of the desired outcome
Online Search or Large Search Engines Aren't Working Anymore
business models that directly compete with interests of Web users
Holidays and Breaks
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married
Danish OpenDocument Freedom
"year of Linux"
Links 14/06/2025: Wars and L.A. Distortion Effect
Links for the day
BetaNews Has More or Less Died After Experiments With LLM Slop, Is Linuxsecurity Next?
It doesn't seem like BetaNews knows what it's doing, let alone what it talks about
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Historic Ada Design and GeminiSpace.Club to Expire
Links for the day
Links 14/06/2025: India Plane Crash and Middle-Eastern War
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 13, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 13, 2025