Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Yes. There has been an exchange of data between Departments for a number of years and the transfer of information was enhanced in the recent budget. That is what was said, but, unfortunately, it did not go much further and tell us what exactly had been enhanced and for what reason.

The question to which I hoped the Minister of State would respond was related to the fact that 115,000 pensioners had essentially been labelled as tax cheats, despite the fact that the vast majority of them had no idea that their liabilities had been miscalculated. This has caused great distress and confusion for many of the most vulnerable and older people. We acknowledge that the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners appeared before the finance committee today and apologised for Revenue's role and the manner in which people had been notified. What role did the Government play in this fiasco? Who in the Government thought it would be a good idea to land such a letter on the doorsteps of the people concerned immediately after Christmas without giving any warning, an explanation or there being clarity on the approach to be taken? Who in the Government knew that the letters were being sent and why did they not insist on there being a proper public information campaign before the letters were issued? Did the Revenue Commissioners inform the Minister for Finance that the mailshot was about to be issued and, if so, why did he not believe it was necessary to inform those about to be affected and if not, why not?

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