The Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011, which provides for the establishment of a Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, also includes a provision which will place on a statutory basis the independence of Revenue when performing their functions under some of the taxation and customs enactments.

The Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011 provides that the Revenue Commissioners shall be independent in the performance by them of their functions under listed taxation and customs enactments. The provision arises from a recommendation of the Moriarty Tribunal Report that the principle or convention of the independence of the Revenue Commissioners be placed on the more robust status of a legislative provision.

Before this change, Revenue had been reliant for their operational independence on a Dáil Statement from 28 February 1923 in the course of the Dail debate on the Revenue Commissioners Order. The President of the Executive Council, Mr. W. T. Cosgrave, stated:

• “In article 9 it is pointed out that ‘The Revenue Commissioners shall in the exercise of their duty be subject to the control of the Minister for Finance, and shall obey all orders and instructions which may be issued to them in that behalf by the Minister for Finance’. In that connection I wish to draw the attention of the Dail to the fact that in this clause the control of the Minister for Finance will extend to civil service matters, but will not affect the computation of any individual as to his liability to any tax.”

It is hard to comprehend how another statute can improve on this crystal clear explanation of how the independent approach of Revenue can be implemented. Are there now grounds for appeal to the courts if it is believed that Revenue has not operated independently and without reference to the political system? It is also not entirely clear as to why the change is appropriate to a Ministers and Secretaries Act. The Secretaries concerned are not Civil Service officials; rather it's the old term for what have become Junior Ministers.

The Act includes a provision which ensures that neither article 9 of the Revenue Commissioners Order 1923 or section 9(3) of the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924 can apply to the Revenue Commissioners in the performance of their functions under the various taxation and customs enactments. Both these rules currently provide that Revenue is subject to the control of the Minister for Finance and shall obey all orders and instructions which may be issued to them in that behalf by the Minister for Finance.

The Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011 was signed into law during July and is available to download on the Oireachtas website at www.oireachtas.ie