Last month, the corporate behemoth that is Amazon celebrated its 20th birthday in Ireland. It should have been a joyous moment. After all Amazon, like other tech giants, has invested heavily in the country over the past two decades, partly due to its low tax regime, supporting heady growth.
But in reality these birthday celebrations had a sour tinge. One reason is that European courts ruled last month that €13bn of tax breaks given to Apple were unlawful. On a recent visit, I was told that local business leaders fear this could undermine future investment.
Another, more immediate, spoiler is energy. Amazon Web Services is currently rolling out €30bn of investments in Europe amid a boom in artificial intelligence, according to Neil Morris, its Irish head. But none of that bonanza is going to Ireland, because Amazon officials worry about future energy constraints. Indeed, there are reports that the company has already been rerouting some cloud activity because of this.