John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I will get to the point. The Department has issued an apology in this case but we need legislative clarity, possibly in the Finance Bill. One has to wonder if anybody read the legislation before the scheme was announced. The Department constructed and designed the scheme on the premise that the returns were being solely made by husbands, and now it is disallowing successful applicants from qualifying, based on the fact that the wives made no contributions independent of their husbands.

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