Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

A number of amendments will be discussed on Committee Stage of the Finance Bill, today, tomorrow and on Thursday. I cannot give any commitments to change any of the thresholds, as these will be discussed by the committee. A threshold was brought in some years ago for charitable donations. In fairness, there never was a tax allowance for this area previously. It was introduced to help charitable organisations and NGOs. Reliefs and thresholds relating to bin charges were introduced to help with the collection process by making people more compliant in paying to use the system. In so doing, we are giving relief to the ordinary compliant taxpayer.

Regarding the thresholds introduced in the case of medical expenses, the aim was to give relief, not to pay the entire bill. Significant tax relief is provided, which is a considerable help and alleviation of the burden, especially for those with very high medical expenses. The Minister for Finance is dealing with these issues on Committee Stage of the Finance Bill.

I will raise the issue of mounting a campaign targeted at reliefs, which form part of tax law, and when people are entitled to receive such refunds in a way that would improve the take-up of people getting back their entitlements. This is something we can do.

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