Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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297. To ask the Minister for Finance if he or the Revenue Commissioners have any estimate of the tax gap between the revenue actually collected each year and what it may have collected if it had greater resources available to it to pursue tax owed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33393/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Revenue collected over €41 billion in net receipts in 2014, while its compliance programmes generated €610 million in tax, interest and penalties. The level of undisputed debt (excluding appeals) is the lowest among OECD countries, having fallen from 3.7% of net collection in 2011 to 2.1% in 2014.  The cost of tax administration in Ireland, estimated at 0.85% of collection, is in the mid range of OECD countries.  Compliance measures also place Ireland among the best performers internationally.

There is no indication that the Revenue Commissioners are generally under-resourced, or that a general increase in staffing would improve upon already excellent results.  Revenue however needs additional resources from time to time to address shortfalls in skill and numbers in particular areas, to improve the efficiency of administration, or to support targeted initiatives to tackle evasion.  Such issues are dealt with in the normal manner in discussion with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and proposed initiatives are included in the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure 2014, which lists a range of possible savings and compliance improvements along with their associated costs of implementation.

I am very conscious of the need to maintain the capacity of Revenue at the highest levels, and to that end the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform was able to provide significant additional resources in 2015 in the areas of information technology, increased audit and compliance staffing, and specialist skills in international taxation and data analytics.

In the event that the Revenue Commissioners make specific proposals in the future for additional resources to tackle non-compliance and tax evasion, any such proposal will be considered by me and by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.