Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy's amendment is almost identical to one moved on Committee Stage. As I outlined on Committee Stage and as my predecessor outlined on previous occasions, the statutory remit of the Ombudsman already incorporates both roles proposed for a taxpayers' ombudsman office, namely, acting for taxpayers and investigating actions contrary to fair or sound administration. The Ombudsman should be left free to decide who and how she should investigate. Imposing obligations in this regard on the Ombudsman could be seen as interfering with her freedom of action and could set an undesirable precedent.

Since the inception of the Office of the Ombudsman, significant numbers of taxpayers have exercised their right to make complaints to that office. The Ombudsman has carried out a number of special investigations in the area of taxation on her own initiative under the Ombudsman Act 1980, such as into the operation of schemes for disabled drivers and the repayment of tax to certain widows. When calls were previously made for the establishment of a taxpayer advocate, the then Ombudsman drew attention to the duplication of role and responsibilities that such a development would involve.

Apart from the statutory role and responsibility of the Ombudsman, other avenues are also open for taxpayers to make their complaints. They can lodge a customer service complaint about the standard of service received in their personal contact with the Revenue Commissioners by telephone, correspondence, fax, e-mail or in person to a Revenue public office. They can request a review by Revenue of any aspect of the way in which their tax affairs have been handled. Such reviews are undertaken by a senior Revenue official who was not involved in the original decision or, at the taxpayer's request, jointly by an external reviewer and a senior official. Taxpayers who are dissatisfied with specific treatments by Revenue can also make an appeal under the relevant statutory provisions. In recent years, the Revenue Commissions introduced a number of other initiatives to ensure taxpayers know about their entitlements.

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