Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that. I will start with Vote 10 on the Tax Appeals Commission. It deals with large and very complex legal cases against some of the wealthiest and most powerful corporations in the State. Naturally, the corporations wish to pay as little tax as possible and employ very competent and large legal teams in doing that.

In 2021, there was a quantum of €4.2 billion to be decided by the Tax Appeals Commission and €2.8 billion related to just five multinational companies, which, again, have huge legal teams on it. For example, one of those included a case of a multinational company that Revenue claimed owed €1.64 billion. After a long and protracted negotiation, the settlement was reduced to just a fraction, at €300 million. Does the Tax Appeals Commission have adequate staff and resources to effectively deal with the complex cases? A figure of €3.8 million seems like small number for the huge task it has in order to do its work in a timely and efficient manner, obviously, in a way that benefits the State, but also that companies get issues resolved quickly.