Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Boyd Barrett has been lulled into a false sense of security because Government policies are working and have taken a disastrous, catastrophic situation and introduced stability. The introduction of stability and the fact that things are moving in the right direction means that Deputy Boyd Barrett thinks we are out of the catastrophic crisis. We are not; we are still working our way through it. From his interventions, Deputy Boyd Barrett seems to think that a couple of million euro here and a couple of million euro there does not matter but it does. Let us consider the expenditure cuts when the Deputy was discussing the Social Welfare Bill. None of those measures was taken lightly. In following the policy on the tax side, the yield is €9 million. It will be followed next year and the years after. It is important to note that we are not in a position to make concessions. There are competing demands for concessions and what we must do is keep the economy moving forward, make sure people relying on social welfare are protected and ensure the low paid are protected. We are doing so successfully in the myriad decisions that must be made. Every decision counts and, even though there is only a yield of €9 million in this, it is important we keep the tax policy established two years ago in line with the extra contribution from students the Minister for Education and Skills is seeking.

We appreciate how difficult it is for many families, which is why we have also maintained the second part of the policy. The sum is disregarded as a tax claim in respect of one student in a family but the full amount can be claimed for second and subsequent students from the same family against the family's income tax.