The National Treasury Management Agency has been appointed to procure a custodian to administer a temporary account which will contain funds recovered from Apple following last year's European Commission ruling on state aid.
In a statement, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said that the Government is "fully committed to ensuring that recovery of the Apple state aid takes place without delay".
He added that this is notwithstanding an appeal lodged by the Government in November against the ruling that Ireland granted illegal state aid of up to €13bn to Apple.
The amount to be recovered will be paid into an escrow fund, with final release when the Irish appeal is ruled upon.
If the appeals process is successful, the money held in escrow - a temporary pass-through account generally held by third parties during a business transaction - would have to be paid back to Apple.
The appeal is expected to take several years.
A spokesperson for Apple said: "We believe every corporation has a responsibility to pay taxes and as the largest taxpayer in the world we're proud of the contributions we make to the countries and communities where we do business.
"The European Commission’s case against Ireland has never been about how much Apple pays in taxes, it’s about which government gets the money. The United States government, the Irish government and Apple all agree we've paid our taxes according to the law.
"Since virtually all of our research and development takes place in the United States, according to the law, we pay the majority of our taxes in the US. The Commission’s ruling is contrary to the tax principles countries around the world have adhered to for decades.
"We continue to cooperate with Ireland on the recovery process the Commission has mandated but remain confident that once the general Court of the EU has reviewed all the evidence it will overturn the Commission’s decision," added the spokesperson.
Commenting on the recovery process, Mr Donohoe said: "Work has long been on-going to ensure that the State complies with its recovery obligations.
"With the launch of this public procurement process for the appointment of an escrow agent/custodian, I welcome the significant progress being made and I look forward to the completion of the recovery process.
"Due to the unprecedented quantum involved, and the complexities of the European Commission Decision, this is a novel and highly intricate process requiring time to implement. I welcome the continued understanding of the European Commission on this matter."
