Mr. Niall Cody:

Any delay in finalising cases is not good. The reform involved in the Tax Appeals Commission is one of the most positive developments for tax administration in a long time. The commission has inherited a major legacy of delayed and backlogged cases. It is a new agency and it is carrying out a public consultation to which we have made a submission, as have the chartered accountants and various other players. One of the major reforms is that the Tax Appeals Commission now publishes its determinations, having regard to confidentiality. This is one of the most significant positive developments. It is now engaged in a process of determining how to manage the legacy while not ignoring the current workload. I take a positive view as I believe there will be a significant improvement in the administration of tax across the board in the coming years.

There is clearly a resource issue and I note that last week the Tax Appeals Commission advertised for case workers to support the process. It is now engaged in a series of innovative work practices regarding case conferences. While it will probably take a number of years, I am hopeful about the outcome of the process. The figure of 4,400 cases gives a false impression because many of these legacy cases are linked to tax avoidance issues. This means there will be a lead case and a series of follow-on cases. In some cases, hundreds of cases will be sorted if the original case is sorted.