Ms Cora O'Brien:

On transparency grounds, there is no way to answer that. We are in an abyss in that we do not know what is happening. That is the way we have been working for the past 30 years with this process. We do not know what cases are going through, or the issues or how much tax is involved. We do not know how many times the same type of cases are heard and a decision made. We do not know how many people have to go through the system again and pay all the money when publication of a decision could have enlightened them that they were right or wrong.

I have a concern about the grounds when the Appeal Commissioners can take the matter to a private hearing. Those grounds are in the heads of the Bill. They specifically state nothing in the section shall be taken to mean the grounds on which access to the hearing is restricted extends to maintaining confidentiality of a person's tax, financial or business affairs. That cannot be a reason that it will not be held in public. There has to be a much bigger public policy reason for not having an appeal heard in public, which would be very exceptional grounds. We are then looking at a large percentage of these cases being held in public.