asked the Minister for Finance if he proposes to review the Government's embargo on filling vacancies in the public service in so far as it applies to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and other tax collection agencies of the public service.

There are no proposals to review the embargo as it applies to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners or other tax collection agencies.

Is the Minister aware that the Committee of County Registrars and Sheriffs' Officers have indicated that they have bulky files waiting for execution on behalf of Revenue but they cannot begin to do so because they do not have staff? Has the Minister given any indication to county registrars, for instance, that in order to make the system work and to have the people respect the system, he will provide the necessary staff so that they can implement the system — office staff or execution staff?

I am aware of statements and submissions of the kind referred to by Deputy O'Kennedy. It was in order to respond to those that I announced a measure in the budget this year in regard to enforcement.

Is he telling those collection agencies that the staff and the administrative machinery now available are entirely adequate to administer and collect debts that have been determined in many cases by the courts? Is he satisfied that he is not bringing even the judicial system into disrepute, because court orders have been made and they cannot be executed for want of adequate staff?

I have discussed the matter here on a number of occasions. We have difficulties at enforcement level. The difficulties do not relate only to that.

Has the Minister a letter from the secretary of the County Registrars Association asking him to appoint officers specifically for the collection of debts?

It is not my practice to discuss in the House letters that arrive on my desk marked "private and confidential".

Private and confidential? I read it in The Irish Times— it was that private and confidential.

How many staff are employed at present in the Revenue Commissioners office? Have the staff increased or decreased in the last 12 months?

We travelled that ground yesterday or the day before. Between July 1981 and the end of January last the staff in the Revenue Commissioners office have been reduced from 7,363 to 6,896.

Is the overall level of the public service, not just the civil service, appreciably lower since the introduction of the embargo? Can he give us the number of unfilled posts as a result of the embargo?

The trend is downwards.

Is the Minister not concerned that because of lack of adequate staff, either for administration or execution, particularly in country registrars' offices he is not only losing revenue but bringing the whole judicial system into disrepute and that it is giving rise to further understandable frustration in the PAYE sector when they see even court orders not being implemented?

I have discussed many times in the House the difficulties at enforcement level. There are a number of different avenues to be explored in relation to the improvement of enforcement. I do not accept that the judicial system has been brought into disrepute in any way.