Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are a couple of points on which we are clear. This was addressed in the Budget Statement. All members are aware that the Government totally underestimated the task before the Tax Appeals Commission when it was established on a statutory basis. There was insufficient provision in terms of the number of appeals commissioners and other staff, as well as resources. The organisation established by the Government was not fit for the task ahead of it. When one sets up a new body, it will attract new interest. It has been playing catch-up. There are some historic appeals. Its funding has been significantly increased this year.

I think there was legislation to increase the number of commissioners the other day or I spoke on that issue somewhere recently.

Between 2019 and 2020 there were significant increases in resources to the Tax Appeals Commission for staffing and commissioners. It is playing catch-up and I accept it did not get it right at the beginning.

I just want to make an observation on the consultancy issue. I would like the Office of Government Procurement to come in on this at a later stage when we collate the information. Take the case of the general data protection regulation, GDPR. I suspect this is what is happening. There is a myriad of Government bodies and agencies which have to handle this. They go to the Office of Government Procurement to get a firm of consultants to deal with it. One could find ten different Government agencies ending up with the same company asking for a brief on how to handle GDPR. Given that the company will have done the job for the first agency, all it has to do is change the cover and charge the full price for the next nine. I have seen this happen before. All the big firms know they will be called upon. They have taken on big operations to deal with these queries. Say the company charges €20,000 for a project. Then another similar sized agency comes along. All the company has to do is change the cover and the names on it and the job is 99% the same. That is my concern.

I will be asking the Office of Government Procurement to look at categories of procurement. If there are umpteen agencies putting out a similar tender independently, is there any way of getting a reduced rate on the basis that one will get a similar project from ten organisations as opposed to a once-off? I am only speculating but my instinct is that there is some of that happening.