Mr. Neil McDonnell:

We have absolutely no idea how, David Copperfield-like, this thing rose up out of nowhere last year. Funnily enough, it is only in the private sector and does not exist in the public sector, to my knowledge, although I am open to correction. It is where if you pay someone mileage to go from A to B, you do not necessarily have to pay it through payroll but the Revenue has to be apprised of it. If you give them a small benefit exemption or if they are five hours away from station and you pay them the five-hour subsistence, that has to run through payroll.

I go back to an earlier comment members may have thought was facetious but it certainly was not. There appears to be a view among a cohort in the Department of Finance and Revenue that all businesses do is spend time tax-dodging and expense-fiddling, and we saw that written into Revenue's enhanced reporting last year. It is really burdensome for businesses and payroll providers. We are saying it has been run for the years 2024 and 2025. If it cannot show it has recovered something from it, we are back to the red-tape agenda - get rid of it. The fun and games will start, I presume, if we ask civil servants to start putting theirs through payroll as well, which I doubt will happen. If there is not a benefit from it, then the cost should not be imposed on business.