Apple's €850 million Irish data centre will not be affected by the EU's €13 billion tax ruling

Apple is planning to push ahead with its €850 million (£716 million) Irish data centre despite an EU tax ruling that has ordered it to pay €13 billion (£10 billion) to the Irish government and concerns that multinationals may be put off investing in the country, Galway Advertiser reports.

The European Commission told the Irish government to claw back the taxes that Apple should have allegedly paid it between 2004 and 2014 on Tuesday - less than three weeks after Irish planning body An Bord Pleanála ruled that Apple could start building an enormous data centre on the west coast of Ireland.

The Galway Advertiser says that fears were raised almost instantly following the EU's decision, with people worrying that the ruling could derail Apple's investment plans in Ireland.

But Apple CEO Tim Cook told local broadcaster RTE on Thursday that Apple's commitment to Ireland was undiminished and investment in the country will continue "as per plan."

Earlier in the week, Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, told the Irish Times: "We have an outstanding relationship over the years with the Irish government and we are very committed to Ireland.

"We have recently made additional investments in the country, and our plans to invest in Ireland have not changed," he continued, likely referring in part to the Athenry data centre.

The Apple exec went on to say that the EU's decision will ultimately make multinational firms more cautious when it comes to investing in Europe.

Apple wants to use the data centre to store European user data and to help power online services including the iTunes Store, the App Store, iMessage, Maps, and Siri for customers across Europe, according to a press release announcing the development in February 2015.

Over 200 people will be employed in the building of the Athenry data centre, while a significantly smaller number of IT workers and data centre technicians will operate the facility when it's built.

Apple is yet to respond to Business Insider's request for comment.