Mr. John O'Callaghan:

No. What currently happens is that Deputy Doherty as a taxpayer would get an assessment. He would write to Revenue saying it is too much and explaining why. He would then enter into correspondence with Revenue. It might be a year or two before Revenue would correspond with our offices to request a date for the hearing. Revenue waits for the appeal to be ready to be heard. Initially, Revenue will get one letter showing in a couple of sentences what the taxpayer is saying, and frequently it does not have enough evidence from the taxpayer. The parties have to go to and fro and, eventually, if the issue is still live, they will contact our office to request a date, and we give them the date for the hearing. If the taxpayer thinks Revenue is sitting on the case and not listing it, he or she has a specific right, under section 933 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, to apply to us directly for a hearing. That is an unusual situation. It is nearly always Revenue that liaises with us about the time and date of the hearing.