Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I understand I am replying to the Minister. Will the Minister undertake in the context of the tax breaks under various headings that his Department will review the compatibility of the wide range of tax breaks for health care and nursing homes and if they link in any way to general health and welfare policy, particularly in regard to older people? I gave the Minister examples yesterday of nursing homes which are springing up in various parts of the country, some of which are good, but some are in remote locations where older people will have no chance of independent living or ever getting out because they are in rural areas with no footpaths, no access to a church, shops or the pub. Will the Minister for Finance specifically undertake to have that examined in the context of the review of tax breaks?

I do not know if the Minister saw the reports in the media last week which were fairly extensive of plans by a number of international care groups to establish in Ireland facilities for older people. They spoke about some of the sheltered housing which will be available for purchase by what was described as older "high rollers", and that the cost of each of these units of accommodation would be €1 million. In that context the tax break cost to the Minister's Department will be approximately €420,000 because these high rollers will surely have exposure to the 42% rate of tax. All I am asking for is the facts and, as with the Travers report, that we have some attempt to logically examine the issue.

According to the OECD report today Ireland has one of the narrowest tax bases. We know the infrastructure is in shambles and that people spend hours commuting. Every other European city has public transport of a high quality to most areas of its city. We have had to wait seven years for the opening of the two Luas lines. The shambles in public infrastructure is unbelievable. Are we going to give very attractive tax breaks to wealthy older people to the tune of approximately €500,000 each, while at the same time ordinary people who have worked all their lives and paid their taxes are unable to get any kind of public provision for sheltered housing? It is a simple question and we debated some of it yesterday. Who benefits? If the Minister decides to continue the tax break, the Labour Party wants the benefit to be spread widely throughout the community rather than it being exclusively available to older people who can purchase €1 million euro apartments and probably pay, from the standards that were being talked about, €1,000 a week in additional care costs on top of that. There may well be a market demand for this level of facility in this country and that is fine. However, it should not be tax subsidised when those who have worked hard all their lives are forced to rely on a degree of public provision while well-off people get all the tax breaks and benefits of the tax expenditure foregone. It is a question of justice and equity that the needs of all our older citizens should be considered in a rounded way. If State subvention or subsidies are there for the giving, they should be spread equitably among the community. As is the case with most tax breaks they should not simply go to very wealthy people who can afford legal, accounting and other expensive advice and can afford to buy into tax avoidance schemes. If this is the only outcome of tax incentivisation of the private health sector, it is very unfair. I want the Minister's assurance that if he cannot accept this amendment that this will be one of the key and critical elements of the review he has promised.

There are no figures available about the number of nursing homes or sheltered accommodation which benefit from these tax breaks because the Minister has said his Department keeps no figures. I cannot get any information from the Department of Health and Children, which does not seem to know what it is doing most of the time. Although traditionally in public administration the Department of Finance had a line management role in vetting the expenditure and policies of other Departments, when it comes to tax breaks the Department of Finance seems to have completely abdicated its role. Never mind the missing file today, there does not even seem to be a letter from the Department of Finance to the Department of Health and Children setting out what these various tax breaks are supposed to do, and the implications for health, welfare and social care policies. I ask the Minister to give the House an undertaking on this study. He did not establish a proper independent commission on taxation but is hiring his own consultants. The House should be given a guarantee that this will be a decent study and not simply a set-up to facilitate the high rollers yet again for another decade.

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