Dáil debates
Wednesday, 9 March 2005
Finance Bill 2005: Motion to Recommit.
12:00 pm
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I move: "That the Bill be recommitted in its entirety to a committee of the House."
The Minister has introduced a major change to the Bill by way of amendment No. 58 and there is a complete absence of opportunity for the House to debate this section in any detail owing to the presence of a guillotine.
In the Bill as amended on Committee Stage, there is a section 141 which deals with the question of aiding and abetting tax evasion, as requested by the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners on a number of occasions. The Minister's amendment, which we have only recently received, seeks to make the identification of aiding and abetting much more difficult. It will now have to involve somebody being reckless and culpability of a high degree. The bar has been set much higher regarding aiding and abetting than it was in the draft Bill.
Furthermore, in section 141(b), as amended in committee, there was a reference to somebody indirectly facilitating the fraudulent evasion of tax by any other person. I understood this, and so did other members of the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service, as a particular attempt to capture, for example, officials or directors in banks or other institutions who were involved in establishing schemes to aid and abet tax evasion but who, as the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners has pointed out, could not be successfully prosecuted. While on Committee Stage the Minister indicated he was considering the matter we received no notification until we received the amendment as the Minister has tabled it.
Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I ask the Deputy to deal with the recommittal motion first.
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I ask that the Bill be recommitted in its entirety to the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service so that we can fully debate amendment No. 58. As it stands we will never reach amendment No. 58, which comes at the end of the Bill and this debate is to be guillotined.
The Dail Divided:
For the motion: 48 (Dan Boyle, Pat Breen, Tommy Broughan, Joan Burton, Paul Connaughton, Paudge Connolly, Joe Costello, Jerry Cowley, Seymour Crawford, Seán Crowe, Ciarán Cuffe, John Deasy, Jimmy Deenihan, Olwyn Enright, Eamon Gilmore, Paul Gogarty, John Gormley, Tony Gregory, Marian Harkin, Joe Higgins, Phil Hogan, Paul Kehoe, Enda Kenny, Kathleen Lynch, Pádraic McCormack, Dinny McGinley, Finian McGrath, Paul McGrath, Liz McManus, Olivia Mitchell, Gerard Murphy, Denis Naughten, Dan Neville, Michael Noonan, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Jim O'Keeffe, Brian O'Shea, Jan O'Sullivan, Séamus Pattison, John Perry, Pat Rabbitte, Michael Ring, Eamon Ryan, Trevor Sargent, Joe Sherlock, Róisín Shortall, David Stanton, Mary Upton)
Against the motion: 63 (Bertie Ahern, Dermot Ahern, Michael Ahern, Seán Ardagh, Martin Brady, Séamus Brennan, John Browne, Joe Callanan, Ivor Callely, Pat Carey, John Carty, Donie Cassidy, Michael J Collins, Brian Cowen, John Cregan, Martin Cullen, John Curran, Síle de Valera, Tony Dempsey, Jimmy Devins, Frank Fahey, Michael Finneran, Dermot Fitzpatrick, Seán Fleming, Jim Glennon, Noel Grealish, Mary Harney, Seán Haughey, Máire Hoctor, Cecilia Keaveney, Billy Kelleher, Peter Kelly, Tony Killeen, Séamus Kirk, Tom Kitt, Michael McDowell, Tom McEllistrim, John McGuinness, Paddy McHugh, Micheál Martin, John Moloney, Donal Moynihan, Michael Moynihan, Michael Mulcahy, M J Nolan, Éamon Ó Cuív, Charlie O'Connor, Liz O'Donnell, Batt O'Keeffe, Ned O'Keeffe, Fiona O'Malley, Tim O'Malley, Tom Parlon, Peter Power, Seán Power, Dick Roche, Mae Sexton, Brendan Smith, Dan Wallace, Joe Walsh, Ollie Wilkinson, Michael Woods, G V Wright)
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Broughan and Kehoe; Níl, Deputies Kitt and Kelleher.
Question declared lost.