Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of additional staff that have been assigned to the telephone helpline established by the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Finance to deal with the concerns of the 150,000 pensioners who recently received letters from the Revenue Commissioners stating that they were not tax compliant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2017/12]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 133: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of calls that have been received by the telephone helpline established by the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Finance to deal with the concerns of the 150,000 pensioners who recently received a letter from the Revenue Commissioners stating that they were not tax compliant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2018/12]

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 146: To ask the Minister for Finance the overtime costs that were incurred and the number of staff involved in dealing with client queries over the weekend following the letter issued by Revenue regarding the taxation of pensions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2297/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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1I propose to take Questions Nos. 132, 133 and 146 together.

I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the telephone calls resulting from the issuing of letters to pensioners following the updating of DSP pension information onto Revenue's records are being handled through the Commissioners general PAYE lo-call telephone service. The number of staff engaged on PAYE telephone duties varies over the course of the year in response to the levels of customer contacts and at this time of the year, normally, some 100 members of staff nationally are deployed to handle telephone contacts.

Over the period Thursday 5 January 2012 to Wednesday 11 January 2012, up to 180 members of staff were involved in call answering duties each day on the PAYE lo-call service. In addition, in response to the high volume of telephone contacts from pensioners the PAYE lo-call service opened especially on Saturday 7 January and some 200 staff members attended for telephone duty that day. Regarding the overtime cost attributable to staff attendance for the exceptional opening of Revenue's lo-call service on Saturday 7 January, I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that it will not be possible to give a precise figure for the cost involved until the overtime claims from the staff in question are submitted and paid. This normally takes some weeks from the date of the overtime.

I am further informed by the Revenue Commissioners that for the period from Thursday 5 January 2012 to Wednesday 11 January 2012 (inclusive), some 52,000 calls were answered nationally by Revenue's lo-call telephone service. This number includes calls that did not relate to the letters issued following the updating of DSP pension information onto Revenue's records and it is not possible to distinguish between these call types.

The Revenue Commissioners also advise that the average waiting time for a call to be answered was 12 minutes during the special opening on Saturday 7 January and that average wait time had fallen to well under 5 minutes by Friday 13 January 2012.