Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a need for a re-evaluation that will in some way ensure, though not necessarily penalise people, there is a reasonably level playing field, so that the big club in football and hurling, as it were, does not gain everything. Recent events would indicate that there is a place for everybody in that particular area. However, it is essential that the system is seen to be fair, so that we do not go to a public meeting and get scarified next week or two months from now. We are in an uneven situation here and everyone is looking at it but doing nothing about it. We need to do something about it, and we will, in order to make it fair.

We take into account the point in relation to the evolution on the system and that maybe we are not always keeping up with it. That means some change. The Committee of Public Accounts was also mentioned. That committee has no function in relation to policy, even if it sometimes wanders into it. I have my eye on it. This committee has competence in relation to policy but the Committee of Public Accounts, on which I spent 15 years of my life, has no such function whatsoever, despite the fact that it tries to do it from time to time. It does not have any such function and when it does that it acts ultra vires, so we have to keep an eye on that.

Generally speaking, in regard to the warehoused taxes, the Revenue Commissioners know what is in the field, what is warehoused and the chances of collecting it in a specific time. Is Mr. Cody satisfied that, where arrangements have been made, they will, generally speaking, be delivered?