“A lot of people don’t have a problem with government’s appeal, but where were they during the financial crisis when Irish workers could have done with the same help?” said Declan Connolly, 39, an information technology worker for Cork’s local government.

Image Downtown Cork is a contradictory blend of Silicon Valley chic and Irish-style austerity. Credit... Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Almost a third of his colleagues have either been let go or not been replaced when they retired. Extra taxes on his income and pension have left him with roughly 10 percent less cash in his pocket.

“The Irish government never did do as much for us as they are now doing for Apple,” Mr. Connolly added.

Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, has been quick to defend the company’s tax practices. “When you’re accused of doing something that is so foreign to your values, it brings out outrage in you,” he said in an interview with the Irish broadcaster RTE. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the case.

Cork, with a population of about 125,000, is a contradictory blend of Silicon Valley chic and Irish-style austerity.

A Starbucks in a refurbished 19th-century building on the banks of the River Lee, which meanders though the city center, attracts a techie crowd of 20-something millennials, speaking languages as varied as Chinese and Czech. High-end stores like Tommy Hilfiger line the main thoroughfare, and luxury sedans carry tech and pharmaceutical executives to meetings.

Yet only a few blocks away, where street stall vendors once sold fruit and vegetables, pawnshops and mostly empty casinos dot the streets. Posters at a government agency offer tips on how to deal with spiraling personal debt.