By virtue of his outstanding work on the DIRT report, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, and his staff have already established a strong reputation as guardians of the public interest. Some of the same zeal which permeated the DIRT report is evident in the C&AG's annual report, published yesterday. It is particularly striking that the Revenue, whose performance in relation to the bogus DIRT accounts has been the subject of so much criticism, again finds itself under an unfavourable spotlight. The main body of the report includes the now familiar catalogue of revelations involving the overpayment and misappropriation of public funds. But the overall impression one gleans from the report - and one the recent spate of scandals has done nothing to dispel - is of a creaking public administration where there is insufficient attention not just to the disposal of public funds, but to the wider public interest. Various government agencies appear to be able to exist within their own cocoons with only the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, it can seem, holding them to account. The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs made overpayments of £22 million, more than £10 million of it due to social welfare fraud or suspected fraud; the Department of Agriculture paid out over half-a-million pounds in overtime to six staff over a four-year period; the Department of the Marine paid £170,000 in grants and compensation for a forestry plantation which failed because of unfavourable ground conditions; and some £61,000 in cheques issued by the Chief State Solicitor's Office were cashed in an off-licence.
In relation to the Revenue, the report finds that no less than £1.2 billion was outstanding in unpaid taxes on May 1st last, but only half of this money is likely ever to be collected. In fairness, some of this debt is historical and may have been overstated; the report does point to some improvements in the Revenue's operations. That said, the Comptroller's examination of the tax affairs of 1,249 mainly professional and self-employed people with tax arrears totalling £58 million is particularly revealing; the report says that this group "accumulated unpaid arrears for considerably long periods" and that "some in fact never paid tax". In another section, it notes how one individual made a settlement of £6.6 million and one company paid £3.1 million in corporation tax. The compliant taxpayer, whose patience is already wearing thin, is entitled to know why the Revenue, so well armed with all kinds of powers, is so slow to employ them against some of the richest people in this society. It is to be hoped that the DIRT inquiry before the Committee of Public Accounts will provide the answers to some of the questions raised by Mr Purcell.