Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I want to thank the Minister for his reply about being open to the notion of the papers being published. There is a degree of fiction there, however, as regards how independent the commission is from him. The commission, of course, once established is independent, but if he moved his little finger in this or that direction, it would immediately say, in effect, "how high or how far do you want us to jump?" That summarises the relationship of the Minister for Finance with the Commission on Taxation, particularly with all those people from the taxation and accountancy professions who are so eager to be on the commission. No matter what the Minister might ask them to do, they would turn cartwheels at the front of Leinster House, if necessary, were he to ask them.

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