Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 291: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will ensure that staffing levels are increased and other problems associated with the excessive queues in public offices controlled by the Revenue Commissioners are rectified as soon as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14368/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Revenue Commissioners advise me they are aware of the growing customer service pressures in some of their public offices. The additional pressures are due to an increased number of customers, an increasing number of customers who have more than one employment and the number of customers who do not have English as their first language.

In response to these pressures and to improve customer service standards, the Revenue Commissioners have deployed additional staff in their public offices. They will shortly provide translations of the most commonly used explanatory leaflets and forms in a number of international languages, including Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Czech and Slovakian. I also understand that the Revenue Commissioners' main public office, in Dublin's O'Connell Street, will undergo a major expansion and the new facilities will be available by the end of this year.

The Revenue Commissioners provide a range of contact options for customers which reduce the need for personal visits to the tax offices to access information on tax matters. They have put in place a number of self-service channels for customers that allow them to request forms and leaflets or claim certain amendments to their tax credit certificate without the need for direct contact with a staff member. This can be done using touch-tone telephone, text messaging or the Internet. Later this year the Revenue Commissioners will introduce a more extensive suite of on-line and telephony services for PAYE taxpayers. These initiatives will facilitate PAYE taxpayers in "self-managing" their tax affairs, including adjusting their tax credit certificates to reflect their current entitlements, and requesting balancing statements. The Revenue Commissioners are confident that the measures to be put in place will lead to a greatly improved service for all its customers, including a reduction in queuing time at its public offices.