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

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 23, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following:"Annual Report of the Special Assignee Relief Programme

14.The Minister shall lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas an annual report showing the number of people who have availed of the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP), the number of additional jobs created by SARP and tax foregone as a result of SARP.".

I do not know why this amendment would create a new section before section 14. It applies to SARP and deals with issues which have been raised by other Deputies. The amendment states the Minister should lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas an annual report showing the number of people who have availed of the special assignee relief programme, the number of additional jobs created and the tax foregone as a result. This should be standard with regard to tax reliefs as there should be transparency on how they work. The reason the number of additional jobs created here is included is because the Government announced there would be conditionality with regard to jobs created. In the original forms required one had to provide this data, but this seems to have been relaxed and now this is very much a tax break for very high income earners who take up posts in the State.