Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The first part of the Deputy's statement is correct. We approached the ESRI and then academics in children's health and they advised us that the data to enable us to do this in the manner the Deputy describes were not available. We then reviewed the information on sizing available to us from the largest retailers. The one exception referred to measurements rather than a retailer, so the vast majority, with one exception, of the work we did indicated that the measurements available in the tax code correspond with children's sizing. I imagine there must have been just one outlier in this regard. I ask the Deputy to bear with me for a moment while I consult my officials. There was one brand whose sports trousers appeared to be out of kilter for certain sizes with what we have in our tax law. For all other brands across the retailers we checked, however, sizing was consistent.