Government defends Revenue as Target staff stage sit-in

The Government has defended the actions of Revenue Commissioners which resulted in the closure of one of the country’s largest haulage firms and the loss of almost 400 jobs.

Target Express, a transport company with operations on both sides of the border and in Britain, ceased operations on Monday evening as a result of what the firm’s owner, Seamus McBrien, claims were hardline tactics by Revenue officials.

As a group of 15 workers at Target’s depot at Little Island in Cork began a sit-in in protest at both the actions of the company and the Government yesterday, the Department of Enterprise and Jobs questioned why a profitable company had not been paying its taxes in full.

The department also expressed surprise that Target had not sought the appointment of an examiner to protect it from creditors and keep it operating as a going concern.

Revenue moved to freeze the company’s bank accounts last week, which resulted in Target being unable to pay its staff on Friday.

A Revenue spokesperson said it only pursued enforcement options after “specific engagement” with a business. “Enforcement options like liquidation, bankruptcy, and attachment are only used as a last resort in cases where the debt problem is serious and intractable,” said the spokesperson.

Revenue said it had consistently stated that it was not a lender of last resort and had a duty to see all taxpayers operated on a level playing field.

However, Mr McBrien claimed he had no option but to cease trading after the tax authorities refused to reach an agreement on outstanding tax owed, which he claimed was less than €500,000.

“We tried to work with them but they didn’t want to work with us,” said Mr McBrien.

He said Target had paid €1m to Revenue in the past six weeks, including a payment of €214,000 on Aug 21.

Mr McBrien said Revenue moved to close his firm after he failed to meet a demand to pay a further €80,000 by last Wednesday.

The Fermanagh businessman said he would have paid off all outstanding taxes by the end of September as the company was coming into its busiest and most profitable trading period of the year.