Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The amendment indicates that the credit for a worker paying income tax is €1,760, whereas the home carer's allowance is €770 for a single family in which a carer, usually the mother, stays at home. Most of us would not like the marriages of our friends and families to break up but if a married couple was to separate while retaining joint custody of their children, which is easily arranged in the courts, they would each receive a separated parents allowance of €1,760, in addition to a PAYE tax credit if they were in the labour force. Justice cuts both ways and given that the focus of the partnership process is on having women enter the paid work force, it is right for me, as a woman Deputy, to speak for the women and men who want an acknowledgement in our tax code of the care they give to their children.

When the Minister said on Second Stage there would be no turning the clock back on this amendment, he was wrong. He should reconsider the issue because there are options for reform. The Labour Party has put forward detailed proposals in that regard and this amendment would go some distance towards righting the balance in favour of families with children. If we are not in a position to nurture children, all the economic benefits in the world will be of no avail. I hope the Minister has had an opportunity to reconsider his refusal to turn the clock back in terms of giving families with one spouse at home a second chance. He should at least put them in the same position as separated parents. Why should a married couple which stays together to care for children not receive the same tax advantages as a separated couple?

I understand why circumstances may have been different 20 years ago but time has progressed and we are in 2007. There are 300,000 single income families in this country, at least a third of whom are negatively affected by the Minister's tax rules. I hope, therefore, he will take the opportunity presented by this amendment to rectify the issue.

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