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

I am not 100% convinced by the IPAV proposal, but we would need to look at it more deeply. This is all about throwing out different ideas to examine them. My party examines all options. On the rent-a-room scheme, I am not sure how successfully it is working. Perhaps the IPAV might enlighten us. The proposal suggests anything above the €10,000 limit should be liable for tax. If one looks at one room, one is talking about a weekly rent of approximately €200. One would have to be above that figure not to be able to avail of the tax exemption. If one had two rooms, that could present a problem if the rent was anything above €100. One would not be able to avail of the scheme. A concern I have is that this would allow people to increase the rent and still avail of the tax exemption.