Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Public Accounts Committee
2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 7 - Audit of Revenue 2011
Chapter 8 - Revenue Outturn 2011
Chapter 9 - Revenue Debt Collection
Chapter 10 - Increasing Tax Compliance
12:20 pm
Ms Josephine Feehily:
No, I take the point the Deputy is making but I am just qualifying my answer by saying I have not reviewed that particular cohort of files. However, those are the riding instructions to the admissions committee, namely, sufficient evidence and likelihood of conviction. We have a very small resource available for prosecution. It is hugely labour-intensive. The return on investment in terms of cash is modest and, consequently, we must be highly selective and very careful. The cases that go into prosecution will be ones we believe are likely to succeed in securing convictions.