Revenue revamp to take place after Moriarty reports

The radical overhaul of the Revenue Commissioners as recommended in the 1999 Dáil Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) DIRT report is not now expected to take place for several years.

The Secretary General of the Department of Finance, Mr Tom Considine, told the committee yesterday that the legislation to introduce the changes would not be published until after the Moriarty Tribunal completed its work.

The tribunal's terms of reference include it being asked to make recommendations in relation to the independence of the Revenue. The tribunal has not sat since November last and it is not known when it plans to resume public sittings. It is currently preparing for public hearings into the granting of a mobile phone licence to Esat Telecom.

The final report by Mr Justice Moriarty into payments to Mr Charles Haughey, Mr Michael Lowry, and other matters, is not expected to be published before 2003, and perhaps even later.

Mr Considine told the PAC yesterday that, because the findings of the tribunal were considered to be relevant to legislation on the governance structure of the Revenue, it was considered advisable to await Mr Justice Moriarty's report before proceeding with the draft legislation.

"Decisions dealing with the composition of the board of Revenue will therefore fail to be made in the context of the content and timing of the report of the tribunal," he said.

Mr Considine added that a considerable amount of preparatory work had already been done on the basic legislation.

"In addition, considerable progress has been made in implementing recommendations on organisational changes below board level, which do not require legislation."

The PAC recommended, among other matters, that a new governing Revenue board be established, with three new non-executive directors sitting alongside the three commissioners.

Mr Considine was reviewing progress on various recommendations made by the PAC in the wake of its inquiries into DIRT. He said consultations were ongoing between his Department, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Central Bank regarding the new financial services authority. The legislation should be ready for submission to government "in the very near future".

A second piece of legislation, which will establish a Financial Services Ombudsman and consultative panels for the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, may be published in the second half of this year.

The Law Reform Commission has been asked to study the benefits of a special court to deal with Revenue matters and the creation of a fiscal prosecutor.

Earlier the Comptroller & Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, during a discussion of the Value For Money Examinations of public spending, said he would like to see expenditure reviews including taxes forgone by way of tax-relief schemes.