Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am a bit concerned about this section. I support the scheme in terms of having heritage items being made available to our national libraries, museums and art galleries. However,, this would be a big advantage to what in many cases are high net wealth individuals if they were to provide a piece of art that is worth, for example, €8 million. Its market value may be worth €8 million, or that may be the case for a collection of art pieces, to one of our national galleries. If it is deemed to qualify, they can then reduce their income tax liability or their corporation tax liability by €6 million. The Minister is proposing to increase that to €8 million. That is a significant benefit. I may be a bit naive, but I would hope that a €6 million tax credit to make some of these pieces of heritage, art, etc., available to the public would be sufficient. I am interested in hearing why the Minister is increasing the value of the credit that can be claimed in any one year to €8 million.