Mr. Charlie McCreevy:

The activity mightn't have taken place in the first instance at all, if there hadn't been the incentive. So, therefore, there wouldn't be any tax foregone in any particular thing. It's a tax break, to give to ... in order to allow activity to take place, as I said in my opening address, in areas where it wouldn't take place, or if it did take place, it would be too little, too late. Yes, like when the more uptake there is, the more tax there'll be foregone. But yes, there'll be more and more people employed and yes there'll be more and more taxation. Like the question to Deputy, or Senator D'Arcy about the SSIAs; the more people took them up, the greater the income tax foregone was going to be, but the benefit to the people who took up the SSIAs have lasted until the present day. So on your question, Deputy, there is certainly tax foregone, the greater the activity there would be in any sector. By the way ... but there seems to be an ideological bias against some type of tax incentive related to the construction sector.