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

The expertise is not there in the Circuit Court and it does not profess to it. We are not arguing about that. There is an appeal commissioner in place now, where the expertise exists, as I am sure the Minister of State agrees. I am sure he will also agree that people have appealed the decision of those experts and have won in the Circuit Court. Revenue did not appeal that to the High Court. It is clear in those cases, the experts got it wrong and the judges in the Circuit Court got it right. The Minister of State is taking away the right of appeal in cases where an injustice may have been done by the experts - it is very hard to be right all the time. The decision can be appealed on a point of law but the difficulties with entering into that process, particularly in terms of cost, are prohibitive to many citizens. The Minister of State's arguments do not stack up.