Refunds and bureaucracy

Madam, – I got a letter from the Revenue Commissioners last week saying that €215 would be credited to my bank account due to…

Madam, – I got a letter from the Revenue Commissioners last week saying that €215 would be credited to my bank account due to my medication expenses for 2008, which had been supplied to them by the HSE. Very efficient service, I remarked. Until I thought, how could it possibly have taken 11 months to get this information from one branch of the government to the other? Is it that, despite the worldwide communications revolution, the information is lost in a bubble of bureaucracy for 11 whole months? Or is it just that the Government is trying to hang on to the cash for as long as they can these days? – Yours, etc,

EOIN MEANY,

Greenwood Lawn,

Blunden Drive,

Dublin 13.