Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

There is an Ombudsman in the State. Since the inception of the Office of the Ombudsman, significant numbers of taxpayers have exercised their right to make complaints to it. The Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, has carried out a number of special investigations on her own initiative under the Ombudsman Act 1980, such as that into the operation of schemes for disabled drivers and the repayment of tax to certain widows. In the past, when calls were made to establish a taxpayer advocate, the then Ombudsman drew attention to the duplication of role and responsibilities which such a development would involve. That is apart from the other avenues which are available within the Revenue Commissioners and, on appeal, to the Appeal Commissioners to deal with these matters.

I cannot let pass the obvious misstatement of Revenue practice and law made by Deputy Burton regarding banks, individual taxpayers and companies. As far as the position related to tax reliefs is concerned, the four year look-back period for claiming tax reliefs applies to everyone, including companies, banks and corporations. Everyone is under the same limit. There is no inequality regarding claiming back tax reliefs. Everyone has the same period of entitlement, that is, four years. It applies to everyone, from the multinational to the individual. It also applies to Revenue in seeking back taxes. There is also equality between Revenue and the taxpayer.

Deputy Burton has introduced a different concept, that is, losses incurred by individuals and companies. Individuals who trade on their own account can incur losses, as can companies. Such companies can include banking institutions or developers, but as companies and individuals losses can be carried forward until relieved. There is nothing unique about that in Ireland. It is common to many countries. If Deputy Burton wishes to table an amendment on that, we can examine it and discuss the issues involved.

There is no equation between the two circumstances because losses incurred can be carried forward indefinitely until relieved. That is the position of any company or individual who trades on its, or his or her, own account. It is a completely separate aspect of Revenue law and practice, from the question of Revenue refunds on foot of tax reliefs where there is a four year period in operation which applies to the taxpayer and Revenue Commissioners.

On the financial institutions which are participating in NAMA, there has been a recognition of a restriction in the losses made in the legislation. Therefore, it is not accurate to state banks can indefinitely claim their losses in ten years' time, because the banks which are participating in NAMA have already had their losses restricted. I wanted to correct the record for the sake of completion.

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