DUBLIN, May 23 (Reuters) – Elan rejected Royalty
Pharma’s increased $6.4 billion bid on Thursday,
shortly after the U.S. firm cut the acceptance bar for its
latest offer to 50 percent plus one share.

Royalty raised its hostile cash bid to $12.50 per share on
Monday, from $11.25 previously, but made the new offer
conditional on Elan shareholders rejecting at a meeting due to
be held on June 17 the series of defensive transactions recently
announced by the Irish drug firm.

SAN FRANCISCO/DUBLIN, May 23 (Reuters) – Apple has operated
almost tax-free in Ireland since 1980, welcomed by a government
keen to bring jobs to what was then one of Europe’s poorest
country, former company executives and Irish officials have
said.

Chief Executive Tim Cook faced criticism from a Senate
subcommittee in Washington on Tuesday over the iPad and iPhone
maker’s tax practices, which had been shrouded from full view
behind secretive tax-exempt Irish-based corporate entities.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s finance minister said the country would not be the “whipping boy” for what he called a flawed U.S. Senate report that said Irish loopholes helped technology giant Apple shrink its tax bill.

Ireland has been forced to defend its corporate tax rate after the Senate said on Monday that Apple paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits channeled through Irish subsidiaries and that it had negotiated a special corporate tax rate of less than 2 percent. {ID:nL2N0E20Y1]

CORK/DUBLIN (Reuters) – Until this week, Richard Bruton enjoyed the sweet spot in Irish government. While cabinet colleagues rolled out spending cuts and tax hikes, Bruton got the photo opportunities with foreign CEOs investing in their favorite corner of Europe.

Now the strategy that underpins Bruton’s role as jobs minister and the country’s hopes of recovering from the crisis that drove it to take an international bailout is under attack from the United States and the rest of Europe.

CORK/DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland said on Tuesday it was not to blame for Apple Inc’s low global tax payments and had no special rate deal with the company after the U.S. Senate said it paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries.

The Irish government, which has seen the luring of U.S. multinationals with low taxes as a key part of its economic policy since the 1960s, said its system was transparent and other countries were responsible if the tax rate paid by Apple was too low.

CORK/DUBLIN, May 21 (Reuters) – Ireland said on Tuesday it
was not to blame for Apple Inc’s low global tax
payments and had no special rate deal with the company after the
U.S. Senate said it paid little or no tax on tens of billions of
dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries.

The Irish government, which has seen the luring of U.S.
multinationals with low taxes as a key part of its economic
policy since the 1960s, said its system was transparent and
other countries were responsible if the tax rate paid by Apple
was too low.

MAYNOOTH, Ireland (Reuters) – When Paul O’Connell played his first 80 minutes of rugby for five months in an amateur game in Limerick in March, he did not allow himself to even dream of making one last British and Irish Lions tour.

Yet within a month, O’Connell had inspired Munster to a Heineken Cup win over Harlequins and made such a compelling case for inclusion that bookmakers made him odds-on favourite to captain the touring side for the second time in a row.

MAYNOOTH, Ireland, May 20 (Reuters) – When Paul O’Connell played his first 80 minutes of rugby for five months in an amateur game in Limerick in March, he did not allow himself to even dream of making one last British and Irish Lions tour.

Yet within a month, O’Connell had inspired Munster to a Heineken Cup win over Harlequins and made such a compelling case for inclusion that bookmakers made him odds-on favourite to captain the touring side for the second time in a row.

DUBLIN/NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) – Royalty Pharma
raised its hostile bid for Elan to $12.50 per
share and threatened to withdraw the bid if Elan shareholders
approve a series of defensive transactions announced by the
Irish drug firm.

Royalty Pharma, which buys royalty streams of patented
drugs, said Elan’s efforts to reinvent itself through a series
of acquisitions and debt deals were hasty and ill-conceived.

MAYNOOTH, Ireland (Reuters) – Warren Gatland called Australia’s selection for next month’s series predictable, but just as predictable was the barrage of questions the British and Irish Lions coach faced on Monday over Heineken Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson.

Newly crowned European player of the year Wilkinson, who turned down the chance to tour with the Lions to focus on his club side Toulon, was flawless yet again in the French team’s 16-15 win over Clermont Auvergne on Saturday.