John Kelly (Labour)

This is no reflection on the Minister of State but I know that he was handed a script to respond to my Adjournment matter. I would have got the same response if I had asked him to outline the job of Revenue. He was given a generic script that does not address my issue. Perhaps it is my fault because I did not ask a specific question when I sought to raise this Adjournment matter but I have clearly outlined the matter to him now.

Earlier the Minister of State said that Revenue will not allow businesses to continue to trade if there is no capacity to meet tax debts as they arise into the future. My constituent was able to work with a businessman to reduce his debt with the wholesaler from €31,000 to €24,000. Revenue was not able to do that. Please do not blame such people but the banks who are not playing their part.

The Minister of State now knows concerns and I would like, through legislation or otherwise, for such matters to be dealt with. It is ridiculous that we still forget that we have one pot of money. We are not just dealing with the budget for Revenue or other Departments. The funds come from one pot of money. If Revenue is happy to close a couple of businesses in order to secure €4,000 and put seven people on the dole at a cost of €147,000 to the taxpayer then it is no wonder we have problems. We need to do business differently.