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

That is a fair point.

I would offer two points in response. Regarding energy and homes, as the Deputy will be aware, there is an extensive array of grants available through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to help with the affordability of the things needed to retrofit homes. The Deputy makes a fair point that in order to gain tax relief, people have to be in a position to pay the tax in the first place. Looking at how our economy is structured at the moment and the changes in our economy, with a level of excess savings between €12 billion and €13 billion, there are some forms of purchases about which the Deputy's point would have been very appropriate 18 to 24 months ago and that are more likely across the coming period. As people make choices about how they are going to use their savings, being able to use changes we have made in our tax code to encourage the purchase of less environmentally damaging vehicles, for example, the value of that could become more apparent. We have to look at how we can continue to guide decisions, particularly those relating to larger purchases, in a direction that can be more beneficial for our society and economy in the long run, whether through expenditure or taxation.