Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As I said in my primary reply, the review is part of the ongoing monitoring of the authorisations, many of which are coming up for renewal at the same time. It was suggested in the media that this was a result of a fundamental concern by Revenue that matters were not as they should be. The tenor and content of my reply is to the effect that Revenue is not indicating that this is the case. Instead, for the reasons I have given, Revenue is indicating that these are matters it must deal with but that it does not believe there is a serious or widespread problem, or a problem such as was perhaps communicated through the media because these reviews were taking place. People assumed the worst when, as I understand it, that should not be the case.

I do not know the number of authorisations Revenue is examining at present but I will try to get that information for the Deputy. Some 2,040 bodies have been approved under the donation scheme since its introduction in 2001. Last year, the number of PAYE donors was more than 81,000 and €25.3 million was refunded under the donation scheme to charities and approved bodies.

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