Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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It is a reasonable inference to assume the Deputy believes it was implicit in my argument but it was not. What is explicit in my argument is the experience of knowing if we make a change in the implementation of a relief in one part of our tax code that would ensure it would be more than beneficial to people on lower income, the demand to do it in respect of other reliefs in our tax code would be high. It would be difficult to make the case regarding why we should ring-fence refunds for one tax credit while saying that others would not be refundable. The figure I have for making all of our reliefs refundable is €2 billion.

With regard to the technical capacity of the Revenue Commissioners, the Deputy is entitled to his view on what they might be able to do and he has acknowledged the respect he has for them. He can have a view on them. I am accountable to him for the policy commitments I make that they then implement. Their advice is they do not believe they would be in a position to implement a refundable approach to all the credits in our tax code.