54 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Finance the progress made by his Department and the Revenue Commissioners in their consideration of the recommendations of the Revenue Powers Group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18605/04]

I established the Revenue Powers Group, chaired by Mr. Justice Frank Murphy, to examine Revenue's main statutory powers and report to me on changes needed. As I have pointed out to Deputies in my response to several parliamentary questions over the past few months, I have decided to allow a period for debate and public reflection on the many and varied issues with which the group's report deals. I published the group's report on 4 February 2004 to facilitate this process. With one important exception, I did not implement any of the group's recommendations in the Finance Act 2004. This exception involved a power to allow Revenue to access information held by a non-resident entity over which a domestic financial institution has control, a matter which would have arisen anyway. However, I will review all of the group's recommendations for next year's Finance Bill. In the circumstances, I remain of the view that it is not appropriate to comment now on individual recommendations.