Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are three things I will be doing to deal with that matter, because we need to have a well-functioning and fit-for-purpose Tax Appeals Commission. The first relates to the level of resources I will make available. Let us consider the trend and where we are at the moment. In 2015, the allocation for the commission was €0.511 million. In 2016, the figure went to €0.844 million. The provisional out-turn for last year is €1.07 million and for 2018 it will go to €1.6 million. Over the past three years, we will have tripled the resources going into it.

We have more than doubled the staff in the commission. We now have 15 people working in the commission. I have a round of appointments and recruitment under way. We are looking to recruit more case managers to go into the organisation. I aim to conclude the recruitment process soon and put additional people into the organisation this year.

Finally, in response to some of the disquiet Deputy Michael McGrath has touched on, we had a public consultation. It was instigated in respect of the operation of the Tax Appeals Commission to hear the issues that the public and stakeholders have in that regard. My Department has received and considered it. We have now put in place a liaison group with the Tax Appeals Commission. The group had its most recent meeting on 18 January this year. We are engaging significantly with this issue. We are making more resources available to the commission and we will continue with a recruitment process to ensure that we have the right numbers of people and the right kind of people to facilitate closure of the backlog that Deputy McGrath referenced. I am committed to doing all I can to ensure that happens.