THE Western Regional Fisheries Board says it has paid a tax bill of more than £29,000 for which a judgment against it was registered by the Revenue Commissioners.
The manager of the board said it had not realised a judgment was going to be registered. Notification of the move had probably been received but got lost in the office.
"I don't know how the heck it happened," Mr Michael Kennedy said.
The bill was for PAYE and PRSI payments which had not been made "for some months of last year," he said. According to Mr Kennedy, the board was engaged in a major project - the Tourism Angling Measure - which required it to spend money which it would later recoup from the Central Fisheries Board. However, the expenditure meant there was difficulty making payments to the tax authorities, and the hoard had been waiting for ministerial approval to increase its bank overdraft.
"We knew that we were running a little behind because we hadn't got approval for the overdraft but we didn't think they were going to take the action that they did," Mr Kennedy said.
He added the board had now "got a part approval and we have been able to pay the thing".
He said notification from the Revenue Commissioners or someone acting for them appeared to have been lost.
"They must have written a letter to us but I don't know what happened to it. It must have come into the office and got buried - there's bedlam because of the project".