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

I agree with the Minister that allowing for work done by multiple contractors represents an improvement. In reality, he is allowing work on a house at a cost of €1,500 to be eligible under the measure as long as work done by other contractors bring the value to over €5,000. That shows that he has moved in the right direction. He has restricted the measure for a lot of people who simply do not have a lot of money available. To enable them to stop the draught from whistling through the window on cold nights, they can only replace their windows by opting for the cheapest quote available. They will have the work done for a sum nowhere near €5,000. If they have extra spare cash to have their house painted or the garden landscaped, all of the work will be eligible. The only people who will be eligible are the ones who can afford to spend €5,000 on renovations. What about the poor creatures who do not have additional cash available? They will not benefit from the tax rebate, which is wrong. The scheme is overly burdensome and cumbersome. Revenue will have to administer it and cater for individuals who spend €500 on a job, as long as there are enough multiples of €500 to bring the total value to €5,000 simply because the Minister has allowed for work done by multiple contractors. What about individuals who simply do not have €5,000 available? Many people do not have that amount of money and cannot afford the luxury of having their garden landscaped to have someone plant rose bushes or tidy their lawn. All that they can consider is doing what needs to be done, what is leaking and draughty and getting as much done as possible for €1,500, €2,000 or €4,000. Under the proposed measure they will be ineligible. However, a person who has an extra few bob around and puts another grand with it will be eligible. That is unfair.