Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the first instance, it is because this works in other countries. It is in place in the UK, the US, Canada and some other countries. In addition, we would be giving people the money directly by way of savings in terms of taxation or because, due to the structure of it, if somebody had no tax liability, it would in effect be a payment. This happens in Northern Ireland. We would be giving the money directly to the people who need it. While we all acknowledge that there are issues with child care and the cost of education, which was raised in the Dáil yesterday in terms of parents having to contribute, we would be giving the money directly to the people. As all of us here and those in the committee room next know all to well given the sort of administrative costs involved, if we start saying "Let's deal with the medical card issue, child care and all of that", it will cost us a great deal more. We would be giving the money directly to the people to ensure that it has the maximum impact in terms of what it is intended for rather than having to redesign the medical card scheme overall. There are anomalies in all of the schemes and these probably need to be addressed. However, putting the money where it needs to be is why I felt that the tax credit or allowance was the way to go. Ultimately, it is about the things it will bring in apart from the secondary benefits anomaly. It is also money. If people feel their brother or neighbour is earning more in cash per week for doing nothing, there is a psychological impact in terms of dignity.