Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I accept that. I accept the premise and accept what Ms Feehily has said but we are talking about the Comptroller and Auditor General, whose job it is to see how cases are dealt with and he sees a statute in place that states that interest must be charged. That is it, there is no mitigating practice. It is black and white. When he sees that Revenue is not following that statute he does not have the discretion to look into Revenue policy or its code of practice and so on, he just has to follow the line and go all the way through. That is the law as it has been passed by the State. Whether what Ms Feehily is saying is the right thing to do, and probably she is right, but the truth is the law is different and what that tells me is that something needs to change. Either we need to get the Minister to change the law or we need to get Revenue's policy changed. We cannot have a position where the law provides for one thing and Revenue does another, especially when it is the Revenue Commissioners to whom people look and which is such an important body in the State.