THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW:WHEN JOSEPHINE Feehily became the first female chairman of the Revenue Commissioners in the middle of last month, she recalled a comment by her teacher when she left school in Limerick in the 1970s.
She told the teacher she was taking a Civil Service job after school and she mentioned the money she would be earning. The teacher remarked that the figure was a very big salary "for a girl".
Feehily remembers first getting angry about gender politics in her teens when she learned she had to pass a sewing test to become a teacher while male applicants didn't. Now, as she sits in the chairman's office in Dublin Castle, the room from where the queen's representative, the chief secretary, ran Ireland more than 85 years ago, Feehily says she could not have imagined rising to one of the most senior roles in the Civil Service when her teacher made that comment.
"If someone had told me I would be sitting in a large office, looking out over the courtyard of Dublin Castle, I would have told them that it was a pipe dream."
Although about 60 per cent of the Revenue's 7,100 staff are women, Feehily laments the fact that more women are not holding senior positions in the State's tax authority.
The preliminary findings of a recent Trinity College survey of 2,200 civil servants concluded that senior male civil servants were about six times more likely to have children, compared with women in similar positions, and about five times more likely to be married.
Feehily cautions that a similar survey assessing the corporate sector "would give similar results", but she believes women are "probably better placed at the top of the Civil Service than in business". She says at least six of the State's 18 most senior civil servants, heads of government departments and State agencies, are women.
She joins the likes of Julie O'Neill, secretary general at the Department of Transport, and Finola Flanagan, director general at the Office of the Attorney General, at the top of State agencies.
She believes that women with families face difficulties balancing work and family life, but not all businesses are as accommodating as the Civil Service, which, she says has "enlightened, family-friendly policies".
Asked whether she has benefited in her career from not having children, she says: "I really cannot judge because I don't have children. Several [ of the senior female civil servants] have children and some have not. Some are married. Each of us manages our work-life balance in our own way.
"It would be unfortunate if the arrangements in the Civil Service to help women in their careers are perceived to be putting them in a ghetto or cul-de-sac because they are a very important part of the package available to women. They are a great way of keeping both work and family life going."
For the record, Feehily is Revenue chairman, rather than chairwoman. That is the statutory title. As Revenue chairman, Feehily says one of the main challenges facing her staff in the coming years will be how they adapt to the changing economic climate.
She says some Revenue case workers have no experience of dealing with businesses during a downturn and this will involve some re-education of staff.
"I was talking to the Collector General [ Gerard Harrahill] about this in January and we were noting that there are staff in that office, case workers who manage tax cases, who have never had to manage in this kind of environment, whereas 10 years ago there were lots of staff," says Feehily.
She says the Revenue will encourage struggling businesses, particularly newer companies with no experience of tougher times, to "come in and talk to us" and agree to instalment tax payments. "It is much better if they come in to us than allow the thing to grow and grow and grow."
The Revenue will be closely monitoring the sectors where tax yields will be falling. For example, capital taxes and stamp duties have fallen over the last year due to the slowdown in the property sector.
The Revenue will also be watching the effect of the changes to vehicle tax registration later this year to assess whether the tax take falls as the system changes to a system based on a vehicle's emissions.
Feehily will also keep a close eye on whether businesses manage to keep up their tax payments throughout the slowdown. About 91 per cent of the State's biggest companies, which are monitored by the Revenue's large cases division, pay on time. "Cashflow is just as important for the exchequer as it is for business," she notes.
The six-year chairmanship of Feehily's predecessor, Frank Daly, was dominated by Revenue's special investigations into bogus accounts, offshore assets and single premium life assurance investment products, which, to the end of last year, had yielded a remarkable €2.4 billion.
Feehily says most of the investigations, with the exception of the single premiums inquiry, are winding down. Next on the agenda are overseas properties. The Revenue is currently embroiled in a court case with estate agents over its attempt to obtain large volumes of files on individuals who bought overseas properties in recent years.
The tax authorities want to check whether undeclared money was used to buy the properties and whether tax is being paid on any rental income earned from them. "If we could get access to a large body of information about foreign properties sold here to Irish residents, that might give us the wherewithal for a further investigation," says Feehily.
Revenue has also written to the German tax authorities, asking if there are any Irish residents on the list of 1,400 individuals who held money in anonymous trusts in LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, which the Germans bought from a whistleblower who worked at the bank. Feehily is awaiting a response. She believes that, if Irish residents are involved, the sums will be big.
"I can't see people going to that much trouble unless they are substantial. It is not the sort of ordinary behaviour. I imagine it costs a certain amount. You need to be moving in certain circles to have access to that kind of arrangement."
What surprised Feehily most about the widespread tax evasion that sparked the special investigations was how some tax defaulters featured in all the inquiries. "It says two things. There are some people who will keep trying to get away with it and we need to recognise that. It also says that, until after the bogus non-resident programme, the public didn't take us as seriously as they perhaps should have. That is maybe down to us. Perhaps our reputation for pursuing cases to the bitter end wasn't as strong as it is now.
"I suppose it is up to us to maintain that reputation and create a climate where people who want to keep trying until the bitter end won't be doing so under the illusion that we blow hot and cold."
ON THE RECORD
Name:Josephine Feehily.
Age:51.
Lives:Co Meath.
Family:Married to Paddy.
Hobbies:Reading and painting.
Something that might surprise:She was at the Department of Social Welfare and the Pensions Board before joining Revenue in 1993.
Something you might expect:She is the first female chairman of the Revenue Commissioners.
