Revenue Commissioners and UL Sign Groundbreaking Agreement
Mr. Frank Daly, Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, and Professor Roger GH Downer, President of the University of Limerick, today signed a unique Service Level Agreement between the two organisations.
The University of Limerick will accredit the Revenue's present in-house technical tax training programmes, which is delivered by Revenue's Training Branch, with a diploma in Applied Taxation. UL and the Revenue Commissioners are designing a further year of study, which will lead to a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Taxation. The new service level agreement will provide third level accreditation of the programmes and signals the establishment of a partnership in training education and research in the taxation area.
Under the agreement, which was awarded following a rigorous tendering process, the University will provide quality assurance, validation of examinations and accreditation of the two programmes.
This represents a first in the Irish civil service.
Frank Daly, Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners said the agreement marks an exciting development for Revenue:
'The Accreditation provided by the University of Limerick will provide important validation and quality assurance of our Technical Tax Training Programmes and I have no doubt that it will lead to an increase in our overall organisational technical capability. The qualifications which many of our staff will now reach will not just be an internal mark of our confidence but will also be a very clear signal to our taxpaying customers that our progression towards excellence continues apace. I believe our customer services will achieve even greater excellence and that our audits and investigations will become sharper, and will carry a quality hallmark.'
Professor Roger Downer, President of UL said:
"The third level education sector in Ireland must be increasingly responsive to the needs of the country and the economy and the University of Limerick has always sought to be at the forefront in this regard. In the European context too, this new partnership leads the way towards enhanced relationships between government bodies and academic institutions. The Revenue Commissioners have shown vision in proposing this new approach and UL has responded to the challenges with a programme that combines both technical training and academic rigour."
A newly established Centre within UL, the Centre for Taxation Studies, will manage the relationship between the Revenue and the University. Margery Stapleton, Director of the Centre said:
'The cornerstone of the new partnership will be the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Applied Taxation - the first such undergraduate taxation degree in the State. The degree provides both technical and academic education in Taxation with modules in Accounting, Law and Economics and includes a strong research component. The agreement provides for new synergies towards excellence in taxation training and research. Existing taxation, accounting and law faculty will support the centre and the programme will create a unique partnership between UL staff and the Revenue trainers.'
Ends 21/09/2004
The full text of Revenue Chairmans Speech at Limerick University