Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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113. To ask the Minister for Finance if he finds a conflict between the two roles now performed by an assistant secretary within the Revenue Commissioners office, one being a solicitor in the solicitors division and the other being the head of the investigations and prosecutions division; his views that the independence of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, under which the Revenue Commissioners solicitors division works as an agent of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1974, has been compromised. [16648/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that no conflict of interest arises as a result of the roles performed by an Assistant Secretary within the Revenue Commissioner's Office, one being the Revenue Solicitor/Assistant Secretary in the Revenue Solicitor's Division and the other being the Assistant Secretary and Head of the Investigations and Prosecutions Division. The Revenue Commissioners may assign responsibility in respect of functions in accordance with Section 9 of the Public Service Management Act, 1997. There is no compromise of the independence of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The Board of the Revenue Commissioners are independent in the management of Revenue and are extremely careful in ensuring proper governance and oversight of their compliance programmes including in relation to investigations and prosecutions.  I have no concerns about their governance arrangements in this area, and Revenue have provided the following additional background details for the Deputy.

The Revenue Solicitor's Division provides legal services for the Revenue Commissioners in a range of matters including the conduct of tax, customs, and general litigation before the Courts (in which the Division is generally named as the solicitor on record) and the Appeal Commissioners and other administrative tribunals, as well as providing legal advice on strategic and operational matters for Revenue.

The Investigations and Prosecutions Division is responsible for leading Revenue's criminal investigation function but in addition oversees the national investigation functions including national and international initiatives aimed at cross border fraud, drug smuggling and diversion of taxable goods, management of the intelligence function and the oversight of the Offshore Assets Group and other large scale evasion programmes.

The preparation of the cases for prosecution of summary offences is managed by the Prosecutions and Seizures Unit of the Border, Midlands and West (BMW) Division in Bridgend, Co. Donegal.  That Division is under the management of the Assistant Secretary for the BMW Region. The Revenue Solicitor/Assistant Secretary is responsible for the Revenue Solicitor's Division and the Investigations and Prosecutions Division and has no role in the management of the Prosecutions and Seizures Unit of BMW Division.

The offences which are investigated by the Investigations and Prosecutions Division are indictable offences. An investigation is only commenced once it has been accepted as suitable for investigation by the Revenue Prosecution Admissions Committee.  The Assistant Secretary for the Investigations and Prosecutions Division is not a member of that Committee. 

The Revenue Solicitor's Division may advise the Investigations and Prosecutions Division on the sufficiency of evidence and the appropriateness of charges in individual cases. Once the Investigations and Prosecutions Division has undertaken its investigation, the cases are transferred to the Revenue Solicitor's Division for preparation for potential onward transmission to the DPP. It is the DPP that decides on whether there should be a prosecution or not based on the file sent to it by the Revenue Solicitor's Division.  The DPP is an independent office. The internal management of Revenue functions does not affect that independence.