Mr. Timmy Hennessy:

Last year, there was a Government decision to establish a levy to raise €80 million and that was a Government decision of that time. The Department has worked to develop a levy to meet the criteria as set out in the Government decision. We consulted internally within the service and I set that out in my opening statement. We will engage with any body that has made a submission or contacted the Department and we are very happy to do so. In the limited time between the publication of the Finance Bill and the various Stages of the Finance Bill going through the Houses of the Oireachtas I believe that there would not be sufficient time to consult a public consultation.