Former minister for European affairs Lucinda Creighton has said the European Commission "does not have the authority" to rule Apple should pay €13 billion tax to Ireland and "of course" the Government should appeal.

Ms Creighton, who lost her seat in the general election in March and now runs a business consultancy company, told The Irish Times business podcast that the commission's figure of €13 billion tax payable by Apple in Europe is incorrect.

The former Renua leader also said the ruling may damage other multinationals’ trust in tax rulings they have sought from the Revenue Commissioners.

“I’m sure there are other multinationals who have sought written rulings. They may not be precisely the same as this one but I’m sure there are similar ones,” she said.

“We can believe that multinational companies come to Ireland because we’re lovely people and its a great country,” she said.

“But the reality is that 75-80 per cent of the reason, if not even a higher percentage, is our tax arrangements. And that’s our right as a nation to have those tax arrangements in place.”

Such tax arrangements “may be amoral, you may disagree with them, but it’s for the Irish Government to decide if they are appropriate or not. And I think it’s a really important principle that they have to defend on behalf of the Irish people”.