Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 512: To ask the Minister for Finance the reason members of the public have not been able to contact the Revenue Commissioners' Border-midland-western office by telephone since the announcement of the budget 2006; the steps which are being taken to address this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1093/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that in the period since the budget announcement, the Revenue Commissioners in the Border-midlands-west, BMW, region have dealt with significant numbers of telephone enquiries, both on the lo-call 1890 number for PAYE customers and on the general telephone lines for other customers.

Since 5 December 2005, the operation of the 1890 service has been restricted to the hours of 9.15 a.m. to 1p.m., but with additional numbers of staff being provided to deal with phone queries during these hours. Throughout 2005, Revenue experienced significant increases in business volume, particularly in the PAYE area, and the 1890 service has been restricted to these hours to enable PAYE staff to address a substantial backlog of correspondence that had built up during October and November.

This temporary restriction in the hours of operation of the 1890 telephone service has not significantly reduced the number of taxpayer telephone queries being dealt with on a daily basis in the BMW region. For example, during November 2005, before the temporary restriction of hours was introduced, an average of 964 calls per day were dealt with. However, because an increased number of operators are assigned to the system during the restricted hours of operation, an average of 959 taxpayer queries per day are being dealt with on the 1890 service at present. In addition, the BMW region handles an average of approximately 1,700 customer queries per day on its other telephone lines. I am informed by Revenue that it is their intention to revert to an unrestricted service as soon as circumstances allow.

I am also advised that a number of self service options — via touch-tone telephone, text message or internet — have been introduced, allowing customers to automatically request forms and leaflets and to claim certain amendments to their tax credit certificate without the need to talk to a staff member. A much wider range of on-line facilities, allowing PAYE taxpayers to file returns and make rebate claims and to update their tax credits and reliefs, will be provided over the coming months.