Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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67. To ask the Minister for Finance when the current investigation by the Revenue Commissioners into complaints made against contractors working at a publically funded community college (details supplied) construction project will be complete; if this investigation is to conclude before the project is completed; and the actions that will be taken against the contractors should the complaints by workers be upheld by the Revenue Commissioners. [40574/14]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide an update on a recent Revenue Commissioner's investigation (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40631/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 74 together.

I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they are fully committed to tackling shadow economy activity and non-compliance with tax obligations in the construction sector.  As part of their compliance activities, Revenue officers regularly and on an ongoing basis undertake unannounced visits to a wide range of building sites, including school construction projects.  In some instances, these site visits are undertaken jointly with other State agencies, including the Department of Social Protection and NERA, the National Employment Rights Authority.

Where there is evidence of non-compliance found in the sector, the Deputies can be assured that Revenue officers take appropriate action against those found to be non-compliant.  Appropriate action in this context includes ensuring that there is full compliance with the relevant payroll and business taxes, the recovery of outstanding taxes, the payment of statutory interest on unpaid taxes and, where a person is liable to a penalty, the seeking of that penalty.

The Revenue Commissioners have further informed me that section 851A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which was inserted by the Finance Act 2011, placed on a formal statutory basis the long-standing and accepted obligation on the Revenue Commissioners to treat all taxpayer information confidentially.  Accordingly, the Deputies will appreciate that Revenue is legally precluded from disclosing if a taxpayer is or is not the subject of a compliance intervention and it may not make the outcome of any matters relating to any specific taxpayer and/or location publicly available.