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

The Revenue Commissioners have done an exceptional job over the past number of years as we have confronted the darker moments of the pandemic. I note the role that they have played in two different areas. The first was the exercise of their key function of collecting tax across that period, and doing so in a way that reflected the exceptional circumstances that taxpayers were in. They performed a great service to the State across that period. The second is the broader roles that they performed. If, before the pandemic hit, I had said to Deputy Durkan that we would get to the point where the Revenue Commissioners would be paying the wages of people, the Deputy would have dismissed that out of hand. By the implementation of the employment wage subsidy scheme, the Revenue Commissioners paid a share of the wages of hundreds of thousands of people during the pandemic and also performed important functions, such as the role they played in the Covid vaccination certificate in mailing them out to those who needed them so that they could access business services or even travel. They have performed an exceptional role during the pandemic.