Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of the annual cost of these section 110 companies, I am advised by Revenue that while there are figures available on the number of section 110 companies, it is not possible to calculate the amount of tax that would have been paid if a company had not submitted a notification to Revenue that it is a qualifying company for section 110 of the Tax Consolidation Act 1997. This would in any case be an entirely hypothetical estimation and it is unlikely that such transactions would take place here in the absence of the securitisation legislation. Revenue just knows the number of companies but because the companies have qualified under the section 110 process, the amount of tax they would have paid if they did not qualify has not been calculated by Revenue. It would only be making a hypothetical guess and would not have any basis for doing so. Even if I were minded to have a report, it would not be possible to have the information.

If the Senator and his party want to pursue this, they will probably find another mechanism through the House, the Committee of Public Accounts with the Revenue Commissioners or the finance committee. I cannot achieve it through this amendment because Revenue does not have the information. If I were in the Senator's position I would look for a mechanism other than this to shine a bit of light in this area. I am sure there is some information out there. Revenue would not have any hard and fast information it could put its name on and stand over in a report to the Oireachtas at present. Other people might have information on it, other than directly through the Department of Finance as well, which might know more about the industry than we might.As it has the section 110 designation, we do not have the information on the potential tax it could have paid if it were not a section 110 company. I hope the Senator gets the point. There might be other mechanisms which could be used to elucidate this issue.