Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I doubt we are going to reach agreement on this. I would like to make the point that this system is in place since 1853, which is an awfully long time. That is probably why we need to reform it. When it was put in place, before Irish sovereignty, there were special commissioners, which were an arm of the Revenue Commissioners rather than the independent appeal tribunal which now exists.

With all due respect to judges, it is worth pointing out that a Circuit Court judge may encounter a tax case very infrequently. To establish an expert tribunal and then to allow an appeal by way of full re-hearing in a forum which neither has, nor professes to have, the same expertise in tax matters seems inconsistent with what we are trying to do. A complete re-hearing can only be justified if there are reasons to suppose that poor decisions on a matter of fact are a particular problem with the appeal commissioner. There has been no suggestion that this is the case. Referring a case when we accept the bona fides and expertise of an appeal commissioner to a forum which does not have the same level of expertise is inconsistent.

I would like to put on record a quotation from the Supreme Court judge in the 1998 case of Henry Denny & Sons (Ireland) Ltd. v.the Minister for Social Welfare, which is particularly relevant to the role of courts and expert administrative tribunals:

I believe it would be desirable to take this opportunity of expressing the view that the courts should be slow to interfere with the decisions of expert administrative tribunals. Where conclusions are based upon an identifiable error of law or an unsustainable finding of fact by a tribunal such conclusions must be corrected. Otherwise it should be recognised that tribunals which have been given statutory tasks to perform and exercise their functions, as is now usually the case, with a high degree of expertise and provide coherent and balanced judgements on the evidence and arguments heard by them it should not be necessary for the courts to review their decisions by way of appeal or judicial review.

Both I and the Minister for Finance maintain the view that the system we are putting in place will provide a better appeals process for those who wish to appeal decisions of the Revenue Commissioners in an independent fashion at an expert administrative tribunal with a level of expertise which the Circuit Court probably does not have, or profess to have.