Ms Josephine Feehily:

It seemed to me to be a lazy solution to move to monthly filing because the system of quarterly filing was not working. Some of the solutions needed to the cross border VAT risks, which are well recognised in the literature and by the European Council and Commission, involve changes to directives and the rules, which the Presidency is active on. The best that is being done in between is mitigating of risk. The risks exist because of the way in which the system is designed. I would much prefer to see progress being made on the quick response mechanisms and reverse charge proposals currently before member states.

I am trying to find an answer in the information I have before me to the Deputy's question about statistics. We meet regularly with the CSO and have an MOU in general with it. The CSO is very interested in trade data. I have some data on the matter raised by the Deputy. Goods exports in 2012 amounted to €92 billion, of which €51 billion is encompassed by VIES. I do not have an export figure for services in 2012. However, the service figure for 2011 is €81 billion, of which €31 billion was encompassed by VIES.