Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 118: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide figures for the past five years showing the amount of money returned by Revenue to persons claiming for dental treatment for which tax relief is allowable, through form Med 2, Dental Expenses, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28791/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that data on claims for tax relief for dental expenses are not captured in a such a way as to provide a dedicated basis for compiling estimates of cost to the Exchequer. Claims for this relief are aggregated in Revenue records with other health expenses claims. Accordingly, the specific information requested is not readily available and could not be obtained without conducting a protracted investigation of the Revenue Commissioners' records. However, information on the cost to the Exchequer of tax relief for health expenses generally is available for the income tax years 2004 to 2009 inclusive, the most recent year for which final data is available. These figures are as follows:

Cost of tax relief for Health Expenses

For 2009 and later years tax relief for health expenses, other than for nursing home expenses, is relieved at the standard rate of income tax.