asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware of the serious delays that are taking place in the Estate Duty Office; whether he is satisfied that sufficient staff are available to do the work in that office; and, if not, if he will take steps immediately to make certain that public business can be dealt with without delay.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Estate Duty Office.
18.
I am not aware that serious delays are now taking place in the Estate Duty Branch. If the Deputy will bring to my attention any particular cases he may have in mind I shall have them investigated.
The Estate Duty Branch, in common with other branches of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, has suffered, for some years past, from a considerable leakage of trained personnel. Recruitment for the branch has recently improved but it will take some years for new entrants to acquire the knowledge and experience necessary to deal with the complex problems of the death duty code.
Is the Minister aware that we have been given similar answers to this question for a long number of years? Is there any possibility of anything being done in the immediate future to speed up the process?
A great deal has been done but, as I said and I shall repeat, if the Deputy will bring to my attention any particular cases he may have in mind I shall have them investigated.
Surely we are not here to deal with particular cases. Every solicitor throughout the country is complaining about delays. Further, we all know—and I think this is completely wrong—that if a Deputy goes in about a particular case it is taken from the bottom of the file and put up to the top. That is completely wrong. The solicitors of Ireland are complaining and something should be done immediately to satisfy them and expedite the process.
I am not aware that serious delays are now taking place in the Estate Duty Branch but if the Deputy has specific cases I shall have them investigated. That does not mean they will be brought to the top of the file. It does mean that if the Deputy has specific cases we would like to know about them.