Photograph: iStockJust three companies – technology groups Apple and Microsoft and pharma group Eli Lilly – were responsible for almost half the corporation tax collected by the State in 2024. Separate accounts show Apple’s tech rival Microsoft, which employs about 6,400 people in Ireland, paid approximately €4.8 billion in tax here in 2024. Eli Lilly, which manufactures the ingredients for its top-selling weight loss drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro in Ireland, paid about €2.2 billion. However, it warns that as “corporation tax revenues become more concentrated, they also become more risky”. “Relying heavily on just two of the world’s biggest tech companies for a substantial stream of corporation tax revenue carries significant risks,” it says.

Source: The Irish Times February 19, 2026 15:02 UTC