Vol. 387 No. 9
asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the recent decision by the Revenue Commissioners to cancel postal stamping facilities; if he is concerned about the extra cost that this will impose on legal personnel and their clients involved in conveyancing procedures outside Dublin; and if he will be taking action to remedy the effects of this unreasonable decision.
65.
asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the recent decision taken by the Revenue Commissioners to suspend until further notice in respect of stamp duty (a) the postal stamping service and (b) all telephone inquiries concerning individual cases; to the consequential inconvenience and financial cost to the general public; and to the loss of revenue to the Exchequer.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 and 65 together.
I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that their decision to suspend temporarily the postal service for the stamping of non-adjudication instruments was forced on them because of a substantial and mounting backlog of existing postal applications and an increase demand on counter services. The volume of unprocessed instruments received through the post has been so great that if postal applications continued to be accepted there would have been unacceptable delays in dealing with the backlog of applications. The temporary suspension is aimed at enabling the backlog to be cleared as soon as possible. The backlog was caused by a combination of an increase in both the number and complexity of documents presented for stamping all of which could not be disposed of by the existing staff.
Housebuyers and other private individuals should not face major increases in legal or other costs as a result of the temporary suspension of the postal service. Solicitors based outside Dublin have the option of using town agents to present documents on their behalf. Fees for the service are modest and are not normally passed on to the public. In many instances the cost of the service could well be less than the costs which would have resulted for solicitors and their clients if the growing problem of delays in the postal service were not addressed.
Most of the stamping services being provided by the Revenue Commissioners are working normally. The commissioners will continue to provide existing services for adjudication cases, companies capital duties, levies and composition arrangements. A full counter service is being provided in both Dublin and Cork. About 75 per cent of all applications for stamping are handled through the public offices. For the majority of instruments presented, the counter service is capable of processing normal cases in well under 15 minutes per case.
The Revenue Commissioners' decision was not unreasonable. Faced with a situation where delays could have rapidly escalated at considerable cost to both solicitors and their clients they took prompt action. As well as clearing the backlog as rapidly as possible the commissioners are reviewing the operations of the stamping service. They intend to restore the postal applications service as soon as possible.
