Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the witnesses for attending and for the work they have done. I am very nervous with regard to an issue that could run again against the tightening up policy we propose. It has been said we could be talking about from 40 to 50 individuals. I know of one or two of these and have seen them come in to the media events around their donation and then fly out the next day. These people choose where they pay their taxes. They would originally have made their money in Ireland, but have not chosen to be tax exiles. Ms Glucksman said this was painful for them, but to be honest I think it is not painful enough. They should pay their taxes in Ireland.

The real concern is the 182 days and since the Government took office, it has tried to ensure this time is accountable and that these tax exiles cannot fly in an out as they please, as they had been doing. I hope this is very painful for them and wish it was a lot more painful, particularly for some individuals. Although I would like to mention them, I will not, but one or two of them live in the constituency I represent. This is my main concern in this regard. The 40 or 50 individuals, a couple of whom I could name, became tax exiles because they did not want to pay taxes in this State. They like doing media events and contributing to some of the high profile events we have here. Citizens would be annoyed if we started giving them additional days for €36,585 a day. That is not a lot of money for some of these individuals, but €585 is a lot for somebody on a low income. Why should people be able to buy domicile?

I understand why this proposal is being made, because I have worked with many organisations that have access to those funds, but even those organisations and individuals would have questions about this. Deputy McGrath asked what research had been done on this proposal and Mr. Flannery said he had spoken to a few financial houses. Last week, I discussed this with a few people who work in these financial houses and they had a broad grin on their faces. I understood from this that our financial houses here are fairly good at running a horse and four through our tax laws. That is where I come from on this. I fully respect the work that has been done on this proposal, but it would turn my stomach if some of these individuals were allowed have additional days in Ireland.

The same is probably true for many people here. They have seen these tax exiles make their money and leave the country but retain expensive show houses in Dublin and return to Ireland for their 182 days. If these people could buy additional residency, citizens would probably go along with Deputy Doherty's proposal to reduce the number of days they can spend in Ireland. I might go along with the proposal that if we reduced the number of days to 100 and offered an additional 30 days for a €5 million investment and €36,000 a day, we could look at that sympathetically. However, my concern is that this scheme could turn into another tax avoidance scheme.