I’ve got a couple of tax returns on the go with the Revenue, and I am waiting, waiting and waiting for them to be processed and visible on the online system. My perception of computers is that they should work at lightning speed: why else would I take an interest in optical character recognition? The Revenue’s perception appears to be something else.

Yet the Revenue have grandiose plans to computerise everything. Well believe me, it takes time to introduce new ways of doing things, and it isn’t easy. The Revenue’s existing system cannot report back on quarterly VAT payments or CIS balances (unlike Irish Relevant Contract Tax which does tell me the balance). There is no sinister conspiracy here, just plain old incompetence (my OCR efforts can show incompetence as well). I suggest that the Revenue get these matters sorted out before they even think about another round of computerisation.