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

The context to the Deputy's amendment, as he mentioned, is chapter 18 of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the accounts of the public service for 2017. As the Deputy mentioned, Revenue indicates that it currently has three units in its large cases division with responsibility for both the tax affairs of high-wealth individuals and for challenging tax avoidance schemes.

I am also advised that the Revenue's criterion for identifying high-wealth individuals is individuals with net assets of over €50 million. There is no statutory obligation on individuals to return details of net worth on their returns of income. Accordingly, Revenue does not have the data required to estimate the number of individuals with assets of more than €10 million. On foot of the recent report from the Comptroller and Auditor General, I understand the topic may now be discussed at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts with the Accounting Officer and Chairman of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners as part of that committee's work programme. For those reasons, I do not plan to accept the amendment. The committee will be aware of how important it is to acknowledge the independence of Revenue in its dealing with the tax affairs of individuals and that this is critical for maintaining the integrity of our tax system.