Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his contributions to date and I agree with the point made by Senator Norris. I am satisfied with the attempt to define excludable and excluded. At present, there is flexibility at local authority level on rates. While debts cannot be written off from a legal perspective, a council may decide not to seek payment of rates. Section 2(1)(g) refers to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act and debts due to the Department of Social Protection. There is some flexibility within the Department that certain repayments will not be sought by the Department and can be written off.

From a legal perspective, I am confused by a reference to the liability of the debtor arising out of any tax and duty. My understanding is that the Revenue Commissioners are priority creditors. We often hear about the absolute priority status of the Revenue Commissioners in respect of queries made on behalf of constituents. How does that work with the debt being deemed to be excludable rather than excluded? Under the various Finance Acts covering the Revenue Commissioners, the Revenue Commissioners have priority creditor status. Can we go beyond that and set it aside and categorise Revenue debt as excludable rather than excluded?