Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I did not make an issue of the 839 jobs retained by the companies involved because they are not the individuals who are availing of the relief under the SARP in the first place. If one looks at the form, one will see that there are two requirements to be in providing data for Revenue. The first concerns the number of jobs created as a result of the operation of the SARP. I will read it for the Minister. The form refers to the number of employees in the company as a result of the operation of the SARP. The increase in the number of jobs is 383.

That is an increase of 383. An asterisk notes that this does not include any of the employees who availed of SARP relief. The second figure is the number of employees retained by the company as a result of the operation of SARP relief. This figure does not have the same requirement. Let us be clear. The asterisk indicates that this information is a required field and it is necessary for the preparation of the annual report. As the Minister knows, these individuals claim SARP relief for a period of up to five years. They are therefore the same individuals.

These are not all new jobs. The companies themselves provide these figures. There is no real audit suggesting that this has been checked. Deputy McGrath can offer a great defence of this scheme based on multinational companies, outlining an Armageddon scenario in which we lose hundreds of thousands of jobs. However, the companies themselves say that this scheme has increased the number of jobs in all of these firms by just 383. Only 839 jobs have been retained, and this figure can include the individuals who avail of SARP. SARP was availed of by 1,084 individuals during that period.

As I said, I will not get into a debate on autism services, but the Minister is completely and utterly wrong. There is no additional line item providing for autism services. I can take him to west Donegal. Where is the local home support liaison? There has not been one there for years because of budget cuts, decisions the Minister made. As I say every time, this is not personal. Deputy Donohoe holds the office of the Minister for Finance and he makes these decisions. This is one of the decisions he is making and I do not agree with it. It is pathetic, wrong and appalling. So much more can be done and so many other needs come ahead of the eight individuals who earned more than €3 million and will get a €111,000 tax cut as a result of this section. However, the Minister has made this decision and he must wear it and justify it. I ask him not to do that by suggesting that these companies will all flee if he does otherwise. They are not suggesting that at all; they are not saying this scheme is needed to retain thousands of jobs. They say it is needed to retain 839 jobs. As I said, some of the 1,084 people who availed of SARP last year are the same people who availed of it the year before.

Those jobs are being retained as a result of SARP. One could argue that they are needed in the companies concerned. They are in key areas. Deputy Joan Burton was Tánaiste when this was introduced. At the time it was claimed that 20 additional jobs would be created for every job supported by SARP. That is on the Dáil record. That would mean that the forms the companies submitted to the Revenue in 2007 should have indicated a year-on-year increase in the number of employees of more than 20,000, not 383.

Yes, the Indecon report has made recommendations and there is now a €1 million limit. However it still comes down to brass tacks. Is this the best thing we can do? The Members here will have to go back to their constituencies. Can the Minister justify to the next family that comes to his constituency office his decision to give a tax benefit of €111,000 to people who in some cases are multimillionaires instead of investing in services needed by these parents and children? I would not be able to do that.