Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Who can avail of reliefs for education fees at this time? The Minister is saying that if one is sending a child to education, the first €2,500 this year, the first €2,750 next year and the first €3,000 the year after will not be subject to relief. Anything above that is subject to relief. In last year's Finance Bill, the Minister introduced a provision called the special assignee relief programme, SARP. It allows employees who earn up to €500,000 to write off 30% of their income between €75,000 and €500,000 against income tax. They are allowed to get relief on fees for primary and post-primary education up to the value of €5,000. The Minister can tinker with the Finance Bill and allow employees from overseas earning up to €500,000 to have a reduction in their income tax. When they send their children to primary or secondary schools and pay €5,000 fees, they can get relief on it. A couple earning €21,000 each are being screwed by the Government left, right and centre in respect of the property tax, additional PRSI and reductions to child benefit. They are getting no relief because the Government wants to be consistent. How can the Minister square that circle? The SARP tax relief relates to primary and post-primary level. Why are these individuals so special that the fees they pay to send their children to private schools can receive tax relief up to €5,000 while the struggling families cannot? The Minister made the case that people earning €100,000 could be struggling. I am talking about families earning €41,000, which means they are not eligible for the maintenance grant in full, or families earning €48,000, which means they must pay the fees in full. They are definitely struggling. I ask the Minister to explain why he has given preferential treatment to certain individuals.