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

I would not because it is dealing with an anomaly in society whereby there are increasing costs for families, not just child care but a whole range of issues relating to raising children. The taxation system is used in a variety of different way. For example, one could argue that we are all subsidising the knowledge box in terms of corporation tax but, obviously, Marc MacSharry or Joe Bloggs is not deriving a direct benefit from it. I am not saying we should levy taxation to increase taxation to pay for this. While it is pitched at the high rate of €1,654, I am at pains to point out that it would be reckless to seek to do this in a single year. Rather, it would be dependent on the sort of fiscal space that is available to us. Within the two to one split that is being employed in terms of budgeting, we would seek to ask whether we can afford €100 million or €150 million per year for this within the existing space. Subject to sustainable resources, we would then add to it as time passes.

The fairness model is somewhat of a red herring because there are so many different things within the Taxes Consolidation Act that may be there to benefit different sections of society in quite an honourable way. This is just another one. I certainly would not be seeking to penalise or add to the tax burden of people who do not have children. We would provide a measure like this from our existing revenue base.