Ms Josephine Feehily:

Under the current legislation, there must be a return by 7 November and the tax is payable on or before 1 January unless one has an arrangement with the Revenue Commissioners, from which phased payments arise. The "unless" comprises exceptions, phased payment arrangements and the single debit authority. I have secured the tax. This is how I deal with the "unless". The current legislation does not allow me to tell everyone to go away and that I do not need any money until March. It obliges me to secure the tax in a way that I can satisfy this committee and a committee that might be meeting across the hall on another day that I have done my job in accordance with the law. I cannot ignore-----