Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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The witnesses are very welcome to the Committee of Public Accounts. In the previous Committee of Public Accounts one of the issues we considered was whether it was Revenue's role to collect carbon tax, how it is spent and whether it is spent on what it was intended for, which is a policy area. We know, however, that the increases in carbon tax are ring-fenced but not the base, so to speak. Does Revenue have a role in advising Government on that kind of approach?

I want to raise another area, that is, gambling taxes. That has changed considerably in recent years with online gambling and there are significant downsides to that in terms of harm, etc. The Finance Act 2002 exempted a good deal of on-course taxation on betting but a lot of gambling happens online now. Is that something Revenue has done work on in terms of what people are gambling on? Is it something Revenue has considered? What interaction would there be between the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance on something like that?