Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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189. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will engage with the Revenue Commissioners to address concerns regarding the inadequate and inefficient operation of the automated import and automated export system, which is having a seriously adverse financial impact on haulage companies (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46196/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There has been a very significant increase in the level of Customs declarations submitted to and processed by Revenue, reflecting the reality that the UK is now a 3rd country for Customs purposes. Prior to the UK's exit from the EU, I am advised that Revenue processed approximately 1.5 million import declarations annually. In 2022, Revenue processed approximately 43 million Customs declarations and a further increase on that figure is expected by the end of 2023. To the end of September, this year, Revenue has already processed in excess of 36 million declarations with the busiest quarter, particularly for eCommerce, now upon us. As well as the very significant increase in customs declaration volumes, the timing of the business operations associated with customs formalities has expanded to a 24/7 activity for both Revenue and trade.

I am assured that Revenue recognises the importance of stable, reliable and performant customs systems to optimise the efficient flow of legitimate trade through our ports and airports. This is reflected in the very significant investment by Revenue in developing new systems that reflect the requirements of the Union Customs Code, which is the legislation governing Customs procedures across the EU and to which Ireland is fully committed. Additionally, Revenue devotes significant resources to the ongoing upgrade of Customs IT systems, including the import and export systems (AIS and AES), both to optimise the stability of the underlying systems as well to deliver the ongoing maintenance programme which is a feature of all IT systems support. For these planned upgrades, Revenue schedule releases for off-peak times, insofar as is possible, to minimise the impact on trade, especially during peak period activity on those systems.

I have been informed by Revenue that at the end of September they carried out an upgrade to the underlying platform of the Customs systems to improve the resilience and stability of the systems.

However, following that September release there were some technical issues with the Customs systems which impacted trade. Revenue operates a 24/7 Helpdesk to support trade when such technical issues arise, where they aim to speedily identify and resolve the issues. Where systems issues cannot be resolved quickly, Revenue issues a notification to trade advising that ‘fallback’ is available. The fallback procedure facilitates the free flow of goods during these downtimes with a view to minimising the impact on trade. The import or export formalities are regularised subsequently when the systems issues are resolved.

I am satisfied that Revenue is mindful of the importance of ongoing delivery of reliable and resilient services to support compliance with customs obligations by all trade and economic operators and that it deploys its own expert resources and works with its external service provider to minimise interruptions to services. I am assured that Revenue keeps the robustness of its systems under on-going review and these reviews have regard to the feedback by the range of economic operators and that this feedback informs the prioritisation process as regards ongoing systems upgrades and improvements and the scheduling of consequent system releases in a manner that minimises the impact on trade.