Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our secretariats will undertake some desktop research on what the situation is in other European countries.

The second petition before us today is P00029/14, a child care tax credit, submitted by Mrs. Sonya Boyd. The petitioner requests that the joint committee call on the Government to introduce a child care tax credit in the 2015 budget. The proposal was submitted in September 2014, too late for consideration in this year's budget. The petitioner supplies a link to a petition with 1,002 supporting signatories; however, the petitioner has not completed the standard form for supporting petitioners and has therefore not confirmed their permission to use their names in this petition. The secretariat has engaged with the Department of Finance with a view to having this proposal considered as part of next year's budget. I ask Deputy Mulherin to record our decision.