Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom déileáil leis an exemption ó thaobh ealaíontóirí. As with Deputy Rabbitte, I would like the Minister to explain where the €40,000 figure has appeared from. It seems to have come from nowhere. It does not account fully for the context in which artists earn their money. A sum of €40,000 may sound like a lot of money but if one is an artist working on a commission that takes two years, one must pay tax for one year rather than two years when one gets paid.

The circumstances of many artists must be borne in mind. Most of them will not even reach the threshold. Certain artists who formerly enjoyed the artists' tax exemption disappeared from our shores as soon as there was a hint of capping the exemption. Some big bands are included in this regard. I do not believe the exemption was ever intended for rich artists, but perhaps it was. It may be the only good legacy of Mr. Charlie Haughey. Ireland has benefited from it.

There needs to be a cost benefit analysis. The Minister referred to encouraging tourism. One attraction of having internationally famous artists here or their works is that people will travel to view where an author grew up or to see a work of art. Will the Minister explain where the figure of €40,000 came from? We should not have an open-ended exemption but should bear in mind that a threshold that would benefit tourism and artists would be higher than €40,000.

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