Mr. John Hannigan:

Senator Burke inquired about tax exemption for people on the fair deal scheme. The reality, as pointed out by Mr. Naughton at the previous hearing, is that it assumes that people are working and can benefit from it. The large proportion of people in those care situations would not benefit because they are probably not working or there would be a marginal benefit because they might only have a pension which would not be at a sizeable level. While tax exemption might be helpful it might not be supportive of what is required.