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

For now, the short answer to that question is "Yes." The reason is exactly the same as the one I gave Deputy Michael McGrath last year. Every 1% reduction to the rate of life assurance exit tax will cost approximately €4.7 million. Therefore, reducing the latter to align it with DIRT rates from 2019 would result in a cost to the Exchequer of €28 million in the coming year when it would be reduced to 35%, and €38 million in 2020 to further reduce it to 33%. While I am aware of the policy value in doing this, in the context of other choices I had to make I was not in a position to do it this year. I also considered removing the 1% life assurance premium. However, the cost of removing it entirely was €18 million, while reducing it to 0.5% would cost €9 million. For those reasons, it was not a decision that I was in a position to make in this year's budget.