Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased the witnesses accept that. To an extent, it could not be done because Revenue does not have an age analysis available, even if the Department wanted to look at it. The first thing the Department would have to do would be to carry out an age analysis itself. Such an analysis might have informed that level of debate. I am surprised that the review the Minister commissioned was solely based on the recommendations of the Coffey report and that it was so restricted, it seems, because one person did not make a recommendation on it. I am surprised that the review conducted did not go there. The fact that it was not in the published consultation documents probably explains why so few submissions were received. Do the witnesses accept that there is a valid issue there? It seems to me there is a lack of information available from the Department of Finance and from Revenue in terms of how far back this goes. The issue has been relevant in recent debates, with the banks being allowed to carry losses forward. It has always been there but the scale and significance of it is far more relevant in people's minds than it was previously.