Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses, given that when the deadline was planned they probably felt they would be finished by now, but it has now been extended. We very much value their time. Nobody, especially politicians, likes to be in a position of imposing taxes on people as we are aware of the burdens and difficulties they face. I compliment the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners and her staff on the way in which the issue has been dealt with. If it has to be done it is worth doing well. It also addresses a question we have asked ourselves as a people. The Irish people are tax-compliant. Reference was made by another Deputy to the "No" side but that is a small number of people. In those compliments I include the agents who acted on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners. There was to be an item on the agenda today about a company from Cork but it has not been mentioned by any of the questioners. That incident, if it is a serious one, has to be investigated. In the scheme of things, given the 1.6 million applications, it reflects well on the Revenue Commissioners and the agents it has used.

May I ask a few specific questions? First, there is a gap between the number of people who are paying the local property tax and the number who paid the household charge. A couple of hundred thousand people will become customers of the Revenue Commissioners in the coming months. It may be fair to say in many cases that because people have paid the local property tax they are mindful of being tax-compliant. Will the same methods of payment through employers and over terms be applied to those who, to date, have not paid the household charge? Second, all Members of the Oireachtas have had genuine people call who would like to pay but do not have access to the Internet. There has been a peak in that regard in recent days. I was interested to hear the witnesses' comments to the effect that if they get in quickly they will not be late. Perhaps that issue could be teased out a little more, bearing in mind that this will probably be broadcast on the "Nine News" or "Oireachtas Report", by which time the deadline will have expired. My own sense is that there are still a large number of people who would like to pay. However, they would like to know whether, if they pay reasonably quickly, they will have the same facility to pay at source and over the same spread-out period and what penalties, if any, will be imposed.

My third brief question is specific. Already I have heard from a person who wished to change the form he or she had submitted. The person had deferred and later worked out that it would cost €2 per week and decided not to defer. When we made contact, it was unclear how the person could pull back into the non-deferral system. How can that be done? I appreciate that the valuation on the house is for three years and that appears to be fairly firm. In Cork there are areas that have been affected by, for example, flooding events. As circumstances may change and the value of houses may fall, will people be able to change the valuations of their houses in exceptional circumstances?