Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Has the Department factored into that process the fact that if Revenue were to put in a review system. as happens in social welfare. it might prevent cases arising? We got a briefing note from a body other than the Tax Appeals Commission showing there has been an almost exponential increase in the number of cases. In 2012, the figure was 247 but this increased to 356 in 2013, 498 in 2014 and reached 667 in 2015. That is based on information received in response to parliamentary questions. In 2016, the figure was 960 and in 2017 it was 1,405. The more people know about the office, the more people will make appeals. There needs to be some way of triaging cases. Perhaps Revenue needs to step up to the plate and deal with some by having a review. Revenue might say that is the job of the commission; I do not know. The figure was 1,405 last year and will be at least 1,800 this year. Only four years ago, the figure was 500 and it will have increased to well over 2,000 next year. The number is increasing exponentially.