The republic has been too slow recovering tax from Apple.
The European Commission is referring Ireland to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to recover from Apple illegal state aid worth up to €13bn.
The deadline for Ireland to implement the decision on Apple’s tax treatment was 3 January 2017 in line with standard procedures.
But, although Ireland has made progress on calculating precisely the illegal aid granted to Apple, the conclusion of this work is not expected until March 2018 at the earliest.