Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I fully endorse the recommendation. We all recognise that every earner in the State should pay their due taxes and we on this side of the House agree that no one should tolerate tax evasion of any sort. That strong message should always go out from Government and from the establishment.

However, Revenue officials make mistakes. I am sure the Minister of State will be aware, as I am from experience, of where bad decisions have been made by Revenue. In fairness, the Revenue appeals office plays a role in overturning some of those decisions and it is important it is in place and is working.

The part in this legislation to which we referred seems an attempt by Revenue to take on draconian powers. For example, where a self-employed person is employed by a contractor, if Revenue decides to serve a notice of attachment on that contractor, there is considerable potential to damage the future earnings of that self-employed person and to destroy the livelihood that he or she has always had. Everyone has a constitutional right to a livelihood. It seems that this is draconian. It seems logical that at least any person should have the right of recourse to a court and at least a court order should be sought before any such orders are made in order that the matter could be dealt with properly in the court.

I ask the Minister of State to seriously consider the recommendation. Such strong powers should not be given to Revenue. We all have constitutional rights in this country. The Minister of State has said repeatedly it is a last resort. The last resort is the courts of the country and he should not be handing over such powers to Revenue in this instance.