Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not have a number for how many individuals are impacted by these changes. Unfortunately the BIK data for employers is not broken down into the different forms of benefit that are taxed so I do not have that data and by extension I do not have the costs for what we are proposing.

On the point that the reduction is greater for those with high emissions vehicles, it is also the case that the increase provided for in the Act was higher in the first place so we are reducing that by means of the change we are making and we excluded category E. That is a policy decision I made because the vehicles Deputy Doherty is referring to would most likely fall into category E. It all underlines the need for this switch to be made. There are no mixed signals and I want to make it clear that the policy position is settled and that we want companies to invest in more environmentally friendly vehicles with lower emissions. Our BIK system will reflect that. As is always the case in the lead-up to a budget, we will examine the detail of each issue and we have to examine the impact of the change being made today at the end of the year. I will have to examine the detail of that. The thrust of policy remains the same and the principle is unchanged. The signal I am sending to companies is to make the change for the sake of their employees as much as for all the other reasons.