Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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205. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of full time and part time staff employed solely on Customs and Excise duties at ports and airports in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27824/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that their office is an integrated tax and customs administration and it is not possible to dis-aggregate staffing resources deployed exclusively on Customs and Excise work. The Revenue Commissioners have around 2,000 staff engaged on activities that are dedicated to target and confront non-compliance. These activities include anti-smuggling, audit, assurance checks, debt management, investigations, prosecutions and anti-avoidance. A total of approx 43 staff are engaged on these activities in County Mayo. The Revenue Commissioners have an enforcement presence at all key airports and ports and at other strategic locations and enforcement strength at particular locations is regularly augmented with additional personnel on a risk - assessment basis, or when particular operations are taking place. The Deputy will appreciate that, for reasons of operational sensitivity, the Commissioners are not in a position to provide details of enforcement deployment at any given location.