Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, as Chair of this Oireachtas committee and I am disappointed with the answers. I am putting that on the official record. It is crystal clear to us as politicians that the policy of the revenue changed. The witnesses have categorically denied that that happened. They are perfectly entitled to do that. As I said, at the ploughing match, calf feeders were advertised as being VAT-refundable. People automatically got back their VAT on it. That changed in the month of September to October. That was a fundamental change in the way the revenue dealt with calf feeders. The same point is being illustrated on bulk tanks. There was a fundamental change. That is factual. I am putting it on the record that the committee is unhappy with the answer we are getting from the Revenue about the acceptance that there was a change in interpretation. I welcome that a review is going on with the farming organisations and there will be clarity about it but as a committee, with, I think, the united backing of all members, we are refusing to accept the witnesses' answer that there was not a change in interpretation. That is clear. As an Oireachtas committee, we are not accepting that answer. Factually, I and other people here know that items that were refundable changed to not being refundable in the past 12 months.

We can go back to the slurry bags that I started with. That started last March. They were previously refundable and then there was a change in status of the slurry bags. That was the first one that came to my attention, last March, 12 months ago. I do not often do this as Chair of the committee. I am putting clearly on record that we do not accept the statement from Revenue that there was not a change in interpretation.