Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Second Stage debate on the Finance Bill 2009.

There is no doubt but that the country is in a serious financial state. However, I believe there are inefficiencies in our systems that are not being tackled by Government. There exists a golden opportunity for Government to tackle inefficiencies throughout the State. Considerable power has been given down through the years to the Revenue Commissioners by this and the other House. It has been brought to my attention that the heavy hand of the Revenue Commissioners is now coming down on the small business community. I know of people who have received attachment notices under powers given by us to the Revenue Commissioners. In the case of one person who was due to make returns in respect of PRSI and PAYE for March 2009, payment of which was due in mid-April, the Revenue Commissioners issued in May an attachment notice to the relevant bank. That is outrageous given the pressures under which small businesses are operating. The Revenue Commissioners would not enter into a payment plan with a small business struggling to remain open in respect of payments due in March 2009. I have no problem with the Revenue Commissioners wielding the heavy hand on people who do not make some effort to pay their dues, but in this case - there are several such cases throughout the country - the heavy hand of the Revenue Commissioners was used to issue an attachment notice to the relevant bank for money due in respect of PAYE-PRSI in March 2009. It is outrageous that the Revenue Commissioners would come down heavy on businesses which are experiencing difficulty obtaining credit from banks.

Another issue I would like the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, to bring to the attention of the Minister is redundancies in the construction and small business sectors. They have paid redundancy to former employees but have been waiting six months for the State to refund 60% of the cost. Something should be done about this immediately because they need that money. They cannot re-finance through the banks because of the current credit difficulties. The Department of Finance should immediately refund its 60% share of the redundancies paid out by small businesses, builders and developers.