Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 October 2016
80. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 193 of 27 September 2016, if he will provide a breakdown of the number of multiple property owners in ranges (details supplied) for each of the years 2013 to 2015 inclusive; and the way in which confidentiality may be breached should the ranges requested be provided. [29020/16]
View answer82. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 193 of 27 September 2016, if he will provide the total number of properties owned by the 11 persons in the 200-300 category; the total number of properties owned by the 11 persons in the 301-400 category; the total number of properties owned by the fewer than ten persons in the 401-500 category; and the total number of properties owned by the 14 persons in the 500-plus category, in tabular form. [29061/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 80 and 82 together.
I am advised by Revenue that as regards the numbers of properties owned by multiple property owners, the table shows the numbers of properties in the same ranges as provided in response to Parliamentary Question Number 193 of 27 September 2016.
|
Numbers of Properties Owned Between |
Total Number of Properties |
|
200 - 300 |
2,513 |
|
301 - 400 |
3,723 |
|
401 - 500 |
3,250 |
|
Greater than 500 |
16,301 |
In relation to Question 29020/19, I am advised by Revenue that a breakdown of numbers of owners of 1,000 plus properties in the ranges requested by the Deputy cannot be provided due to confidentiality considerations. However, I can inform the Deputy that only 6 liable persons own more than 1,000 properties and Revenue have confirmed that all 6 are approved housing bodies (also sometimes known as voluntary housing associations).
As regards the Deputy's query on confidentiality, the provisions of Section 851A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 oblige Revenue to treat taxpayer information confidentially. Confidentiality is central to Revenue's relationship with its customers but, in recognition of the value of providing a broad range of statistical insights into tax administration, Revenue attempts to balance the requirements of confidentiality while providing as much useful information as possible.
There exists considerable best practice regarding the disclosure of statistical information and confidentiality. A Statistical Disclosure Control document is published on the Revenue website at http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/statistics/statistical-disclosure-control.pdf. This document outlines Revenue's approach to ensuring the balance (between the need to inform and the safeguarding of taxpayer confidentiality) is achieved in the production of Revenue Statistics. It may be of interest to the Deputy to note also that the Central Statistics Office operates a similar approach to statistical confidentiality.
Over the last year, Revenue has redesigned its statistics webpage (http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/statistics/index.html ) to provide improved coverage and depth of the statistical information published, and this information is now also published in more open or machine readable formats where possible to further aid researchers and other users. This places Revenue at the forefront of the Government's Open Data initiative to provide information in as open and transparent a manner as possible.
