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

One would not be changing the whole system. One would be introducing a tax credit allowance at whatever level was affordable in terms of the Exchequer. I was proposing that €150 million would equate to an allowance or tax credit per child of about €240. That would be the level, if we could afford €150 million on an annual basis. That is a huge amount of money in the context of the budget and what is available. It is not about changing the whole system but introducing a new measure which would channel resources directly to the people who need them, which is cash in hand, in order to meet the bills and costs of raising a child.