Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Without any warning or preparation, 150,000 pensioners received letters from the Revenue Commissioners to inform them they had underpaid their taxes due to a failure on their part to include their State pension when calculating their tax liability. It is very difficult to comprehend how the issuing of 150,000 letters of this nature to pensioners was not known to the Government or to any Minister, particularly when the records of up to 560,000 pensioners were sent by the Department of Social Protection to the Revenue Commissioners last November. There was a provision in the recent budget targeting savings of €45 million in the area of compliance.

The Taoiseach has called for clarity and certainty so that pensioners will know where they stand. Surely it is the Taoiseach's responsibility and that of his Government to provide that clarity and reassurance to people. When that provision for savings of €45 million was being discussed at Cabinet, the underpinning of that €45 million must have been discussed along with the question of where that €45 million would come from, as otherwise it could not have been included in the budgetary figures. It seems to me that a very cynical exercise has been undertaken and it has caused anger, confusion and great distress to thousands of pensioners. Was the Taoiseach personally aware that 150,000 letters were being issued to pensioners? Will he explain the reason for the absence of any political leadership or accountability with regard to this issue? It is clear there has been a conscious concerted effort to collect moneys without any political accountability on the part of the Government, either by the Minister for Social Protection or the Minister for Finance.

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