Mr. Derek Moran:

These are the preliminary tax returns being made by corporates. They pay 90% on account and then one gets the details at the end of their accounting year, so that will not be available to the Revenue Commissioners in terms of in-depth analysis for some time. We are blind in respect of that. The Revenue Commissioners through what they call their large case division survey the big taxpayers once a year to get an indication of performance but it is a voluntary arrangement that involves them telling Revenue how things are going. We did not get anything from that survey that would suggest this type of surge.

The key thing throughout the year has been the fact that as this performance has continued, it is a confirmation that this is not once-off. This is a lift in the overall level. There is a range of explanations such as improved trading conditions, continued recovery in the US and UK economies and the fact that more companies are paying tax as they come out of the recession with those at the smaller end that paid tax last year paying more again this year. It will take us some time to drill down into this. Mr. McCarthy and his team work with the Revenue Commissioners to drill down into this in greater detail because we must understand what has happened and what lies behind it. Some of that will only come with the detailed tax returns being made by the companies because this involves them paying preliminary tax on their assessment up-front of what they owe. The accounts come after that.