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13 bln euro award dwarfed by wider multinational tax take

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Opposition says money should be spent quickly

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Government rules out using money in pre-election budget

(Recasts, adds comments from finance minister, opposition)

By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries

DUBLIN, Sept 10 (Reuters) - An EU court order that Apple ( AAPL )

pay Ireland 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in back taxes

triggered mixed feelings in Dublin on Tuesday as the government

assessed possible reputational damage and rebuffed opposition

calls for the cash to be spent quickly.

Ireland had fought the EU back-tax bill alongside Apple ( AAPL )

since 2016, seeking to defend its position as the location of

choice for U.S. multinationals in Europe - and the billions of

euros in direct and indirect taxes they bring in each year.

The government played down the finding by the Court of

Justice of the European Union that it granted the iPhone maker

unlawful aid through its tax treatment as an issue "of

historical relevance only" due to changes in tax rules since.

But it reluctantly accepted that it must now take the back

taxes held in an escrow fund estimated at 13.8 billion euros.

Finance Minister Jack Chambers said ministers would

"carefully consider" in the coming weeks how best to use the

money but that it would not be added to next month's budget pot.

Opposition parties, who have criticised the government's

decision in 2016 to join Apple ( AAPL ) in appealing the ruling, repeated

calls for the windfall to be used quickly to fix a housing

crisis and help fund stretched services like healthcare.

"If they (the government) had their way, the taxpayer would

be down more than 13 billion euros... The mind boggles," Mary

Lou McDonald, leader of the main opposition Sinn Fein party,

told reporters.

The government has already set out plans to cut taxes and

hike spending in an 8.3 billion euro pre-election Oct. 1 budget,

to the extent that it will break its own fiscal rule, meant to

cap spending growth at 5%.

Ireland is already taking in more tax than it can spend -

primarily due to surging corporate tax receipts paid by foreign

companies like Apple ( AAPL ) - and has set up a new sovereign wealth

fund it hopes to grow to 100 billion euros by 2035.

It expects to take in 24.5 billion euros in corporate tax

this year, mainly from big foreign multinationals, and had

collected significantly more than expected by the end of August.

Spending Minister Paschal Donohoe said increasing spending

any further now risked stoking inflation again just as it has

stabilised at around 1%.

Other EU countries might also lay claim to part of the funds

following Tuesday's final ruling in the antitrust case, although

Chambers said it was not yet possible to comment on whether they

would do so.

REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE

Foreign multinationals, attracted in large part due to low

tax rates, make up around 11% of the entire labour market in

Ireland - twice the workforce they had when the Apple ( AAPL )

controversy broke in 2013.

Peter Vale, tax partner at Grant Thornton, said Tuesday's

ruling might do temporary damage to Ireland's reputation but was

unlikely to impact foreign direct investment.

"While it does relate to a bygone era, even last week,

(ex-U.S. President Donald) Trump accused Ireland of being a tax

haven," Vale said. "We'll vigorously defend that, but it only

adds further fuel to the fire to those sort of assertions."

Since the EU order in 2016, Ireland has made a number of

changes to its corporate tax code and did the once unthinkable

by dropping opposition to giving up its prized 12.5% corporate

tax rate as part of an overhaul of global tax rules.

($1 = 0.9057 euros)

(Writing by Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin; Editing by

Jason Neely and Catherine Evans)