I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that there are a total of 16 sheriffs, of whom four have general responsibility for the enforcement of court orders. These are the sheriffs in Dublin city and county and in Cork city and county. The other 12 sheriffs, known as "revenue sheriffs", were appointed in 1986 and 1987 specifically to carry out the task of executing certificates issued by the Collector-General under section 962 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, previously section 485 of the Income Tax Act, 1967. Prior to the appointment of the revenue sheriffs, execution of Collector-General certificates was carried out by the county registrars outside of Dublin and Cork cities and counties.
All sheriffs are appointed under the terms of the Appointment of Court Officers Act, 1945, and are officers of the court. Their remuneration is set by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform with the consent of the Minister for Finance.
At the moment, the remuneration of sheriffs is in four parts. Each sheriff receives a retainer of £400 per annum from the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The sheriff is also entitled to collect a fee, called "poundage", in respect of moneys collected by him. This poundage is computed at the rate of 5 per cent on the first £100, and 2.5 per cent on the balance. The sheriff may recover out-of-pocket expenses necessarily incurred in certain activities, primarily the mounting and conduct of seizures. The sheriff may retain bank interest earned on the money collected by him, during the period between collection and payover to Revenue. The time allowed in this regard is set down in guidelines drawn up by Revenue.
There is no obligation on sheriffs to report their total earnings, so the information sought by the Deputy is not available.
The number and cost of staff required for collection is entirely a matter for each sheriff. There is no information available on the number or cost of such staff. The actions of a sheriff and his staff are governed by the Enforcement of Court Orders Acts, 1926 to 1963. Any person who is aggrieved by any action of a sheriff or a member of the staff of a sheriff has recourse to the courts to seek redress.
The sheriffs are a vital part of the collection apparatus of Revenue. The table below sets out the amounts collected in each of the last three years. In each case, the amount paid by the sheriff is set against an estimate of the amount paid by taxpayers directly to Revenue as a result of sheriff action. Even this picture underestimates the effectiveness of the sheriffs, because the existence of the sheriff system encourages taxpayers generally to pay on time, and demonstrates the ability of the collection system to penalise those who do not pay.
