Dr. Seán Healy:

From the point of view of the issue of tax expenditures, we are strongly of the view that these need to be kept under constant review. The Commission on Taxation devoted its longest chapter to tax expenditures. It is very insightful. We need to keep pace through two measures that should be introduced. As part of the budget process, there should be an annual update of what tax expenditures are costing us. We have all this expenditure in the budget on areas such as health and education. We count all that and have all the lines and so on. We should do the same with tax expenditures.

Second, there should be a sunset clause on every tax expenditure so that it must be reviewed. It does not mean it must end but it must be reviewed before we renew it. That would be a positive step in the right direction.