Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 167: To ask the Minister for Finance the action he will take arising from Chapter 2.3 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's Annual Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33088/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware from the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General that arrears of tax and duty amount to €1,085m as at 31st March 2006.

Of the debt of €1,085m, €253m is under appeal and not currently available for collection. €184m is under control, generally through agreed instalment arrangements where the taxpayer/business is given additional time to pay. €435m is under active collection while a further €213m is currently at enforcement, giving a total of €832m under active collection/enforcement or under control. The collectible debt of €832m represents a snapshot of the debt at a particular point in time [31 March 2006] and is a constantly changing figure as additional debt arises and activity by Revenue results in debt being collected.

The debt for the equivalent time last year, i.e. as at 31 March 2005, amounted to €1,217m representing a reduction of €132m or 11% in the year. I am very pleased to note that as a result of the strategies and processes adopted by Revenue, debt as a percentage of gross collection is now one of the lowest of any tax administration, currently standing at 2.0% of gross collection.

As the Deputy will be aware, the views of the Public Accounts Committee on the 2005 Report will be submitted to me in due course and I will comment further at that time if appropriate.