Irish lawmakers voted Wednesday to appeal the ruling of the European Commission [official website] that would entitle the country to almost $15 billion of unpaid taxes from Apple [corporate website]. Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan T.D. released a statement [press release] last Friday explaining that talks between the Fine Gael party and the Independent Alliance determined that allowing the ruling to stand could hurt Ireland’s ability to attract foreign investments in the future. Enda Kenny, Prime Minister of the Republic, gave an interview [transcript] Wednesday detailing how he is confident that the appeal will succeed because tax issues are a matter for each sovereign to decide, not the European Commission. Apple pays from almost 0-1 percent taxes on its profits in Ireland and the European Commission is claiming that the tech giant illegally funded profits through its Ireland headquarters to avoid higher tax payments.

Apple has been party in multiple law suits in the past several years. Just in July Apple agreed to a multi-million dollar settlement agreement with Network-1 Technologies, settling the patent infringement case [JURIST report] that had been pending since 2008. Earlier in March, the US Department of Justice dropped their case against the company after suing them for refusing to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook [JURIST report].