Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am coming to that. It has come to my attention that relief is being sought under the scheme in respect of expenditure which the scheme was not designed in the first place to encompass. The issue concerns the availability of tax relief under the scheme for expenditure incurred on the provision of an excise liquor licence.

Since a new liquor licence can only be obtained through the courts by extinguishing another licence, a considerable amount of the expenditure incurred in acquiring a new licence relates to the extinguishing of an old one and obtaining the consent of the holder of that licence. It has been argued that this expenditure and other related costs arising on the acquisition of a new licence represent capital expenditure on the provision of a specified intangible asset. In other words, a liquor licence is an intangible licence and therefore falls within this particular relieving provision. The purpose of the amendment is to put beyond doubt that this cannot happen.

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