Vol. 552 No. 3
100 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance if he has given further consideration to the proposal to appoint non-executive commissioners to the board of the Revenue Commissioners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12509/02]
As the Deputy is aware, the Government has considered the recommendations of the sub-committee's of the Committee of Public Accounts Committee on the governance structure for Revenue and, in line with the recommendation contained in the report, a copy of the report was given to Mr. Justice Moriarty. This was done because it is recognised that, under its terms of reference, the Moriarty tribunal is specifically charged with making recommendations with regard to the independence of Revenue.
The findings and recommendations of the Moriarty tribunal are, therefore, relevant to the work on the legislation and for that reason it is considered advisable to await Mr. Justice Moriarty's report before proceeding with the publication of draft legislation.
Decisions dealing with the composition of the board of Revenue will, therefore, fall to be made in the context of the content and timing of the report of the tribunal. Nonetheless, preparatory work is being 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.
