asked the Minister for Finance (1) if he is aware that the Revenue Commissioners have sent within the past month to clubs and such like bodies a form demanding an account, pursuant to Section 15 of the Customs and Revenue Act, 1885, of the gross annual value, income or profits of the real and personal property of such clubs; (2) if it is the intention of the Minister, and/or the Revenue Commissioners, in accordance with such demand and said Act, to levy the corporation duty of £5 per centum upon the defined profits of such clubs and such bodies for each year since the 5th April, 1885; (3) if he is aware that such demands will impose a crippling burden upon many clubs and such bodies, since these demands mean that such clubs will have to pay arrears of duty for 53 years on the defined profits at the rate of £5 per cent of such profits; (4) if he has received any representations on the subject of such demands from the clubs or such bodies concerned; (5) if he has made any provision in the Budget for the current year 1937/38 in respect of the revenue which will accrue under this head and if he can give details of such provision; (6) if he will state when, and by what statute or order, the said Customs and Inland Revenue Act of 1885 has been re-enacted or adapted in this country; (7) has his attention been drawn to the fact that the form exacting this corporation duty levy in Éire is lettered and numbered C.D. 10/37 showing that it was drafted in October, 1937, and can he state the cause of the delay since 1885 in the issue of these forms.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1885.
The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative. In view of the answer to the second part of the question, the third part of the question does not arise. The answer to the fourth part of the question is in the negative. The answer to the fifth part of the question is in the affirmative. The amount included in the Estimate for the current year is £400. As regards the sixth part of the question, the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1885, was continued in force by Article 73 of the Constitution of Saorstát Eireann and adapted under the provisions of the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922. Article 50 of the Constitution of Éire provides that those provisions should continue to be of full force and effect. The form referred to in the seventh part of the question was not drafted in October, 1937. The form is merely a reprint obtained at that time of the form previously in use.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary say if this return were previously in use since the coming into being of what was the Irish Free State and is now Éire?
I believe so, but to make certain I shall have inquiries made.
It was never circulated.
The Deputy is objecting to its being circulated now.