Results 1,721-1,740 of 5,388 for speaker:John Deasy

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: This is a critical issue because to a great extent, we are talking in the dark here. He would not have known because Revenue would not have divulged such information to the authorised officer at any point because, as Ms Feehily has said several times, Revenue does not divulge personal information relating to the tax affairs of any citizen. If Revenue had pursued an individual, even someone...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: So, the individual who has pursuing this issue for many years has no information with regard to how Revenue has pursued prosecutions or made settlements. If Revenue made settlements with individuals, some of whom are named in the dossier, he would not have that information.

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: So we really are talking in the dark here. Not to beat around the bush, the accusation has been made that the Revenue Commissioners and other organisations did not complete investigations into particular Ansbacher accounts appropriately or properly. Accusations have been made of political interference. As Deputy Ross said, the main accusation relates to things Revenue did not do. Were...

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: Ms Feehily made reference to the fact that when a criminal investigation would not pan out, her office turns to civil action. Does the ten-year rule apply in those circumstances too?

Public Accounts Committee: Investigations by Revenue into Authorised Officers Report (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: I ask this because for the public looking in, this is the main issue. The public want to know why Revenue cannot go back 20 or 30 years in the course of an investigation. It would be helpful if Ms Feehily spelled out why that is the case. Is it because Revenue cannot get its hands on the original documentation, some of which may date back to the 1970s? Is it because of common law and the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: That is fine. There is a reason Deputy John McGuinness, a member of Fianna Fáil, is the Chairman of this committee. It is meant to be non-political and bipartisan. Deputy McDonald is using this committee for political ends. She has been doing it for a while and she needs to stop because she is affecting the workings of this committee, which is important. The public and the people...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: The debate in the Dáil yesterday is the evidence.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: I do not know if this is the correct time to bring this up. With regard to what we have been dealing with over the past couple of weeks and what transpired on the floor of the Dáil yesterday, an impression was given and picked up by the media that the Committee of Public Accounts had exhausted the options available to it when it came to dealing with the whistleblower and everything...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (4 Dec 2014)

John Deasy: I have never experienced the kind of misinformation and disinformation that I am now hearing. The Deputy is speaking out of both sides of her mouth. At the very end of her comments, she mentioned the option I had mentioned. That was an option given to us on the first day. It was the second recommendation, to be taken after we had dealt with the Revenue Commissioners. If we consider that...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: My point is that we are never going to get definitive opinions on a piece of legislation that is entirely up to someone's subjective interpretation.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: That is fine, but I do not think our job here is to interpret legislation. Our primary role is to deal with entities such as the Revenue Commissioners and question them on this issue and their investigation of it. We should make decisions after the Revenue Commissioners have been at this committee and let members decide then.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: Sometimes I feel like it is groundhog day in here. We made decisions as a committee last week. It seems that when a decision is made, we come back the following week and question that decision and find ourselves on a completely different course. Some of us raised the point that, regardless of how the legislation is written, there will always be different opinions on different laws. We...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: I am not recorded as having attended the last meeting.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: Like yourself.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: Who is coming in?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: Will there be somebody from the Department of Finance?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: It might be useful. I do not know who drafted the regulations or legislation followed by the Revenue Commissioners at that time. Was it the Department of Finance?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: It might be useful to delve into the area of constraints under which the Revenue Commissioners operated.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (27 Nov 2014)

John Deasy: That is really what I am getting at.