Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I did not say they were involved in illegal activity or evading tax. I said they were involved in deliberate tax avoidance transactions. Tax avoidance transactions may be legal but they can also be illegal. This will apply only where the Revenue Commissioners believe under section 811 that a surcharge applies. Therefore, it was putting money beyond the reach of the Revenue Commissioners through a tax avoidance transaction which is against the law. These people were deliberately involved in that action. This is a softly, softly approach. While the Minister’s commentary about going through the courts and there being no assets left may be fair, there are two ways to deal with this. The Minister could have told the individuals in the long queue that if they did not come forward and settle by such a date, the Government intended to double the surcharge on 30 June 2015.

The interest and surcharges on the non-principal private residence charge of €200 per year, which ran for approximately five years bringing it to €1,000, built up to €3,000 and Revenue doubled that. The big stick came out and the Revenue Commissioners said if the charge was not paid by a certain date at the end of September, it would be doubled to more than €7,000. I know people who were in Scotland, America or parts of the North who were not aware that such a charge existed. In this case the surcharge and 20% of the interest on tax avoidance transactions, which could be large multiples of the non-principal private residence charge, will be wiped out because the Revenue Commissioners may not win the case in court. There is no reluctance to take on other people in court.