Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he has any plans to lift the moratorium on recruitment to the Revenue Commissioners in view of the fact that there will be an additional workload on staff with the introduction of the property tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3992/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I previously advised the House in my reply to Question No. 57388/12 that the Revenue Commissioners would be resourced to ensure the successful implementation of the local property tax. The additional resources required for 2013 are noted in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Expenditure Report 2013. The Employment Control Framework of 5,874 includes 100 additional posts approved by my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in the context of the introduction of Local Property Tax. As noted in my reply to Question No 2063/13, the Revenue Commissioners advise me that they have established the nucleus of the Local Property Tax Branch in Ennis, where staff will become available for redeployment in the context of the Government's policy on shared services, specifically in the areas of payroll, banking and financial management. The Commissioners are also deploying additional staff to this Branch by reconfiguring their District structure in the South West and relocating functions from Clare to Limerick. I am satisfied that when Revenue receives the additional 100 staff which were sanctioned in 2013, they will be in a position to deploy their resources to ensure the successful implementation of Local Property Tax.

In addition, Revenue is contracting for external service delivery of some data capture and call centre services for Local Property Tax. Regarding recruitment as previously advised to the House in my reply to Question 3206/13, in recognition of the need to adequately resource Revenue and to address critical skills gaps, my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform recently granted Revenue sanction to fill critical vacancies up to the Employment Control Framework of 5,874. The Revenue Commissioners are required, in the first instance, to refer to the public service resource panel to fill vacancies. Where there are no redeployment staff available, or there are specific skills deficits, Revenue has sanction to fill posts by recruitment or promotion.