Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will confine my contribution to the areas within the Finance Bill and our recent budget relating to the issue of fraud. I compliment the Department of Finance on the area of the Bill dealing with policing and collecting VAT and the anti VAT fraud measures included. I welcome that, as should all Members. VAT fraud is described in the booklet from the Department as a massive problem. I agree. It is a major problem that has never been tackled as it should have been, particularly during the days when we were told the country was rich. If it was rich, we should have collected the moneys due but that did not happen. I welcome the measures in the Bill relating to VAT. They are the good news.

I want to move on to the issues of tax evasion and white collar crime. Unfortunately, these issues are not tackled in the Bill in the way we would like. This is our third budget and I understand that we are in a difficult position. We have never been bankrupt before. Even when the British were here, they did not leave us bankrupt. It was some of our own who did that to us. We have a responsibility to deal with the significant issues of white collar crime and corporate fraud. These moneys are due in tax to the State. The law is the law and we would not be in our current difficulties if all of the due taxes, VAT etc., were paid to the State. With those moneys we could tackle the likes of problems referred to by Deputy Broughan, such as social housing. We would have little difficulty in presenting such a programme if we could recoup the moneys owed to the State due to white collar and corporate fraud.

Unfortunately, in this jurisdiction we do not have exact figures in regard to white collar or corporate fraud. Since the foundation of the State we have never had these figures. We must look to the experience of our neighbouring jurisdiction, the United Kingdom, which has a sophisticated fraud authority that can provide figures, the most up to date figures being those for 2011. We are not as articulate about fiddling as the British white collar sector or corporate bodies are, perhaps. I have believed for many years that we in this country enjoy a bit of fraud. We should take steps to put a stop to fraud and hopefully some measures will be included in the next budget to tackle this problem and resolve it.

I will return to the issue of the extent of the problem of white collar or corporate fraud and the 2011 figures from the United Kingdom. I noted that when the budget was announced here, some Members got a little over excited about social welfare fraud and the measures proposed in to deal with it. I have no difficulty in that regard, because fraud is fraud. Those measures should be welcomed by all of us. We can chase and recover every cent that is owed as a result of social welfare fraud and put those moneys into the State coffers, but what is owed in that area pales into insignificance when compared with the level of white collar and corporate evasion in this country. The 2011 comparison figures from the United Kingdom indicate the combined figure, including VAT fraud, is in the region of €4 billion.

We would welcome the recovery of even 50% of that, although I would support going for 100%. We must step up and deal with this issue in the next budget. We will require additional personnel and better co-operation between An Garda Síochána and Revenue. This is the model the British use and it has proved successful. It is all very well for some Members and several members of the media to get excited about social welfare fraud, but they seldom write about or raise the issue of the €4 billion that is owed by guys in fancy suits and fast cars. They manage to get away scot free. They certainly got away scot free during the Celtic tiger period.

I do not present the figure of €4 billion as totally accurate, as it is a figure from the fraud authority in Britain. We could argue all day as to whether we are better at fraud than the British. I think we are probably better at fraud, but we must do something about it or we will not be able to deal with the issues that need attention, such as social housing. We should not have people sleeping in doorways while there is €4 billion owed to the State. This figure is the figure for just one year, so we must tackle the issue. I have supported every budget and I look forward to supporting budget 2015 and whatever initiatives the Department of Finance proposes to take to recoup these moneys owed to the State.

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