Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My point is relevant to Deputy Doherty's point about couples who are not married. The report indicates that there may be merit in an updated re-examination of the legal status of non-married couples. It sets it out in the context of a broader reform because that is relevant as well for couples who are not married and where the transferability of some of the lower-rate band is not there.

I raised it recently by way of a parliamentary question and in his reply the Minister referred to a Supreme Court decision in 1980, the constitutional provision and that Revenue said it would be very difficult administratively to treat such couples in the same way as married couples because of the lack of official documentation in certain cases and so on. The issue is not going to go away. In his response to the committee on the home carer credit, can the Minister set out the broader context of the treatment in respect of the taxation of couples who are not married but are co-habiting?