Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
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I am sorry the process has gone this way because I genuinely wanted to tease out the issue. In the business case put forward to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to justify the expenses allowances, it was noted that a deal was done with the Department of Finance in 2005 that the allowances would not be taxable on the basis that they were purely compensatory for additional costs incurred by people on the back of their going abroad. If I surrender a lease at home or have a mortgage repaid so I do not incur additional rental costs, there is no extra cost and the payment is not compensatory.