Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I agree with the Taoiseach that nobody in this House is against wealth creators. For that reason, we have a very low corporate tax regime and a number of instruments that can be used to minimise tax, yet we have this scale of evasion. With all due respect to the much improved revenue collection facilities, the settlement does not owe anything to the Revenue Commissioners but was the result of a tribunal of inquiry. The Taoiseach says we are not against wealth creators but it appears the unfortunate person who buys a house in this country has to pay a king's ransom in stamp duty, whereas no limits are put on the profits to be made by the big companies which build the houses. Despite that, they are not prepared to pay their due taxes.

I visited the website of the company in question, which states: "Bovale have gained an unrivalled reputation for meticulous attention to detail". This evasion has been going on for years but I do not know whether a file has been referred to the DPP and did not hear the Taoiseach reply to the point that the people concerned are conspicuous at Fianna Fáil events, major donors to the party and prominent in the tent at the Galway Races. They have engaged in this scale of tax evasion at a time when most citizens, notwithstanding the new affluence being experienced in this country, find it hard to make ends meet and pay their taxes as best they can. I know the situation in Revenue has improved in recent years and commend the agency on that. However, much of this evasion took place over an entire generation under the very noses of the Revenue Commissioners, with little action taken. I am satisfied the culture has changed but I am not satisfied that sufficient resources have been put into, for example, random audits of self-assessment or that the Revenue Commissioners have had the resources in recent years to apply themselves to this industry, which is a major locus of bogus subcontracting and widespread tax evasion.

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