asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons affected by the application of section 21 of the Finance Act, 1980; and the average amount of money involved in each case.

Individuals to whom section 21 of the Finance Act, 1980, applies are not distinguished in the income tax records from other tax payers. Consequently statistics are not available in relation to such individuals which would enable the information requested by the Deputy to be supplied without the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of public time and money and the allocation of scarce staff resources. However, from a survey of cases affected by section 21, which has been carried out in a particular tax district, the average amount of tax underpaid for 1979-80 or earlier years is estimated to be £142 per case. This survey encompassed 5,409 cases.