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

It appears that the purpose of amendment No. 8 was the abolition of the dual abode allowance, which is a tax deduction allowed to Ministers, Ministers of State and the Attorney General in respect of the cost of maintaining a second residence. Section 836 of the Taxes Consolidation Act provides for a tax deduction under section 114 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 in respect of the cost of maintaining a second residence where arising out of the performance of his or her duty a Minister or Minister of State is obliged to maintain that second residence in addition to his or her main residence. The allowance is confined to officeholders who represent constituencies outside the Dublin area.

As the Deputy is aware, overnight expenses are not paid to officeholders. Such expenses apply only to Deputies and Senators who are not officeholders. For this reason, I would not be able to accept the amendment. The position is as outlined. I cannot comment on individual cases because the Revenue does not share information on individual cases. I do not know of any person in the current Administration who has purchased a second house in Dublin. Perhaps there is a person, or more than one person, who has done so. Typically, people rent an apartment and claim tax in respect of the cost of doing so. For example, by taking an apartment on which the rent per month is €1,400 or €1,500 per month and multiplying it by 12 and taking away 41% of the end amount, the Deputy will see how short the amount which can be claimed is of the overnight expenses which all Deputies who are not officeholders receive. It has reached the point - I am sure the Deputy is well aware of this - that Ministers of State in particular were much better off before they were promoted, in financial terms, because the dual abode allowance goes nowhere near compensating them for what they lose out in terms of overnight expenses.