Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We do not know much in terms of openness and transparency which is a little ironic given that the Revenue Commissioners want to remove certain rights on the basis of openness and transparency.

People are very much in awe of the Revenue Commissioners and would not like the idea of being put on public display. The kind of data that would be made public in an appeal case would be extensive. Do any data protection issues arise? What a field day for anybody trying to pull a scam or steal an identity on the Internet, to be sitting in one of these public hearings where the person discloses all sorts of private financial information. To what extent does a privacy issue arise? For those 50 or 60 cases do the Revenue Commissioners really require this type of power, which seriously invades privacy, to do their job properly?