Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not detain everyone for too long. First, I must apologise for being late. The Seanad ran late and I did not have an opportunity to put my ear to the proceedings. Basically, what I wanted to know was covered in the question from Senator Clonan and answered very well by Ms Fleming.

I would like to make an observation. We had a family retail business in a small town in Kerry for five generations. I ran it myself for 20 years. We had a small number of staff and we made a good living out of it. The biggest problem we had was the red tape with Revenue. Things have improved now but the Government appeared to think that shopkeepers were there to gather money in for it. One had to look after one's VAT and pay it, one had to do the PRSI for staff, and one had to pay one's income tax, naturally. We always seemed to be getting work to do. Our principal, core business was selling but an awful lot of our time was devoted to non-selling. I sympathise a lot with crèche owners and all of those who have been before this committee and who have contacted us. Obviously everyone in business is obliged to fill out a Revenue statement at the end of the year and no one would object to that. However, it seems to be rather unfair that a very similar type of process is required to comply with the core funding rules. Having listened to Ms Fleming, it seems possible that there could be better co-ordination between Revenue and the Departmentvis-à-vischildcare. It is not an insurmountable problem. The expenses incurred by people running crèches in completing their accounts can be claimed against their tax liability and I presume they can do that twice if they have to prepare two sets of accounts. Nonetheless, I am sure they would prefer to get one set complete that would do for both Revenue and the Department. After all, it is the State we are talking about, whether it is Revenue or the Department. We are talking about the State and surely it should be made easier for what is a very hard-working sector of society that is offering a vital and invaluable service. What would the State do if it was thrown over on itself?

I have gotten the gist of it now and while I thank Ms Fleming for explaining it, I am wondering if an attempt has ever been made to streamline the process between the Department and Revenue.