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

When I put it to the Minister that the relief is open-ended and it contains no requirement to produce one jobs in the State her response was that the requirement by the IDA is that each of these individuals would generate 50 jobs. I knew at the time that the Minister was misleading the Dáil. That is the reality. Is there documentation to show that the Government believed that each of these individuals would create jobs? The tax relief is very generous and what may have convinced the Government to introduce such a generous scheme for people overseas to come to Ireland and have their tax bill written down is that they may have been sold the idea that each one of these individuals would created 50 jobs. I assume that is the case. I assume the Tánaiste did not take to the floor of the Dáil in 2012 and deliberately mislead the Dáil. The point I am putting to the Minister of State is that the rationale for introducing such a scheme - which has been enhanced in this Finance Bill, by removing the upper limit of €500,000 - has not fulfilled its stated intention to create jobs. The original form that had to be provided has to include the number of jobs generated. There is no actual supervision in regard to that but it is pitiful what has been generated as a result of this tax relief. This relief has cost thousands of euro yet 25 jobs have been created. I suggest that if one targeted money at some small and medium enterprises, for example, some high street shops, one could create more jobs with the type of tax foregone than has been created through the tax relief for the wealthiest in Irish society.