Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I did not quite follow the Minister's final remarks. The case presented to me was that we have been found to have been treating income earned in the United Kingdom in a discriminatory way in the context of the rules that apply elsewhere in the European Union. Our knuckles have been rapped on this issue. The Minister is moving to mend our hand but he is taking an unduly narrow view of the opinion given that it is acknowledged on all sides that if the same issue arose in respect of capital gains, the same opinion would be issued. In this case, the same view would be forthcoming from the court and the same response would be required of the Minister to amend the Finance Bill. Why are we inviting those who feel aggrieved to make a new challenge before the Minister mends his hand and considering that he now knows the basis of the ruling?

I did not interpret the Minister as disputing the case that the same opinion will apply in respect of capital gains. If I believed the Government held the view that the opinion should not apply in respect of capital gains and that the Minister's defence was robust in this regard, I would be happy to agree with him, test the case and defend the Revenue Commissioners until this was done. However, unless the Minister has such a prima facie belief that he is in the right and that the Commission's opinion would not apply to capital gains, we should put up our hands and amend our approach.

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