Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

Yesterday, there was a debacle in County Donegal when officials from Revenue and agents acting on its behalf sought to remove machinery from Highland Bakery, which is located on the outskirts of Letterkenny. The employees working there then barricaded themselves in and a stand-off ensued between Revenue officials and the staff there. The background to this matter is that like many good businesses, the owner has got into difficulties and owes money to Revenue. While he does not dispute this, the issue is how can a sustainable repayment plan be arrived at. At present, the owner, Kevin Bradley, is being asked to repay €20,000 per month, which is not sustainable. The question and dilemma for Revenue is there are 28 workers and 15 drivers involved, making 43 employees in total. If one multiplies that number by the €20,000 per year each it would cost the State, the final amount this would cost the State per year runs to hundreds of thousands of euro. I appeal to the Revenue Commissioners to engage immediately with the owner, who has assured Deputy Doherty and I that he wants to resolve this issue and maintain his business, in respect of which he has a full order book. Like many other businesses, while previously he was paid upon delivery it is often a month or longer now before he gets paid. As such, he has difficulties with cash flow.

I assure the Minister that the owner wants to repay what he owes but on a sustainable basis. I appreciate that Revenue has a job to do and that the taxes it collects are required to run our health and education services and so on. However, I appeal to the Minister and his officials to intervene to resolve this problem and, more important, to ensure jobs are saved in Donegal, where, as the Minister will be aware, there is a huge problem in terms of unemployment and emigration. The business concerned has been successful and can continue to be successful with some assistance from the Minister.

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