Mind you this wonderful government we have got stuck into me for tax and VAT........
Such an argument I had with them over it....... because they are secondhand parts, re-worked...
their answer was basically the charge tax and VAT on them to discourage us from using companies on your side of the pond..
and to use companies in our own homeland... I tried to explain that the chroming servers was not available here!!
But they still charged it anyway.
Simply because use are not in the EU....
My company has offices all over the world and I found out the hard way about the GST, VAT, etc... I shipped a tape drive to my Australia office and they got hit up with big $$$ in GST, VAT, etc.
See, our policy is that all Technology-related items are to be purchased by our Corporate office and then shipped to our remote offices. This allows us to benefit from quantity purchasing.
My solution for everything I shipped to them from that point on was to mark the package as 'repair'. They do the same in return.
Since it's a 'repair' part, the shipping companies and Customs pass the package right thru...WITHOUT all the taxes! If they ever call (and they do) we just tell them that the item is/was being 'repaired' and is being returned to the office.
We've saved all kinds of $$$.
Don't know if it will work in Ireland, but I'm sure you could make a case for the part being 'repaired' (i.e. - it was in the country to begin with and you just shipped it out to get repaired and now it's coming back.)
FWIW...