Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Chairman, for allowing this debate. I thank the witnesses for being present to answer these very important questions. The one thing that is very important for us as public representatives is to let Revenue know in a very ordinary and human way that the letters have struck the fear of God into honest-to-God farming families who did nothing out of the way. By its own admission, Revenue said the farmers did not do anything fraudulently or on purpose. They did not mean to do anything. All they did was receive the piece of paper in the post, which has no value until it is traded. If that were to happen, the farmers would gladly pay capital gains tax. They know they would have an obligation to do so.

Why, therefore, in the name of God, would the Revenue Commissioners write to them in the manner they did, a couple of weeks before Christmas? This is being inflicted on farmers. As my brother, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, rightly stated, it does not matter at this stage whether a farmer has cows or sheep, is producing beef jor engaged in tillage. The one thing every farmer has in common is that none of them is making money. No one involved in the agriculture sector is making money; he or she is struggling along. We have to ask, therefore, why Revenue thinks it should send these letters now. Why were they not sent two or three years ago? I have been listening closely to the delegates' answers.

I raised this matter with the Taoiseach in the Dáil earlier today. Perhaps the Revenue Commissioners' representatives might confirm that more letters will be issued to the same farmers claiming a specific amount of money. As Deputy Brendan Griffin said, we appreciate the work done by the Revenue Commissioners. Somebody has to do it, but Revenue does not comprise an enormous pool of people. I know that senior people working with the Revenue Commissioners are raising their eyebrows at what has happened. They are questioning it and asking whether the Revenue Commissioners are factually correct in what they have done. They honestly believe they are not. Therefore, there are people working with the Revenue Commissioners who are dubious about what has been done. That is extremely worrying. One can always say doctors differ and patients die, but what I have heard is serious.

I am thinking of an excellent interview given by Mr. Seán Brosnan, chairman of Kerry IFA and a sound individual, on the Agri-Time programme on Radio Kerry in which he talked about what exactly these patronage shares meant and how they worked. He asked whether the people who had sent the letters a number of weeks ago knew what they were doing. Did they understand the system? I honestly doubt that they did. My late father always said one should never blame a person for making a mistake provided they admitted to it. If the Revenue Commissioners have made a mistake in this case, no person in Ireland would blame them if they were to say, "Yes, we made a mistake. We were wrong. We should not have done that." In that case no one would crow at them. We do not operate like that. However, I question what Revenue has done and ask how right do the Revenue Commissioners think they were. How do they think they would do in a test case and how would it stand up in court? I am fearful about what this is doing in terms of people's state of mind at what is a critical time when they are trying to balance their budgets. I know farmers who have paid their taxes but who had to borrow every penny to do so. They are now trying to repay the banks, yet they have received these letters.

I honestly doubt that the people working with the Revenue Commissioners know what this is doing to the families involved who are sick with worry. They are trying to figure out what they should do. They are in a very bad way, which is why we are fighting for them here. We want to tease out this issue to see if Revenue's representatives can answer us comprehensively on, first, how right they think they are and, second, if they think it will stand up in court. Will they write again in the coming days? If they will, it is only fair that they should let people know. That information only came to light earlier today and has been made known to the Taoiseach, but no one from the Revenue Commissioners has told us publicly. Revenue's representatives should understand the reasons we are so exercised about the matter. I have to be parochial and talk about the situation in County Kerry. I have not seen Deputies in the county come together and unite on any issue in such a way in a long time. We all fully appreciate what this is doing to farm families who are being terrorised by the actions of the Revenue Commissioners.