Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome my colleague, Deputy MacSharry, and thank him for his opening statement. Everyone has had sight of the discussion paper prepared by Deputy MacSharry. I genuinely commend him on this initiative. It is very evident to anyone that a huge amount of work has gone into this proposal. The research is excellent. It certainly contains innovative thinking and is very well presented. This is what a mature parliament does. Proposals should come from parties and individuals within parties. What the Deputy has asked for is that we engage in an open and honest discussion about the merits of what he has proposed and I am happy to do that.

The Deputy has chosen the tax credit model. If the issue we are seeking to resolve is the trap whereby people on social welfare chose not to work because it is not worth their while - an issue we have all come across in the course of our constituency work - why is Deputy MacSharry proposing this model as a opposed to, for example, one involving secondary benefits, such as helping people to keep their medical cards, tackling child care costs and the issue of people losing the housing assistance payment if they attain a certain level of income from employment? Could Deputy MacSharry set out the rationale for opting for a tax credit-based approach in respect of each child as opposed to dealing with secondary benefits to make it worth somebody's while to work?