Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

It is acceptable, provided Revenue can assure me that the cost of the tax reliefs is nugatory and that if they were abolished the yield would be insignificant. Revenue can do that. If it tells me a certain tax relief exists but does not amount to more than €50,000 there is no point in diverting resources from tax collection into an examination, purely in order to have statistics. One might lose more revenue than one would gain. However, if there is any serious tax relief to which the Deputy can draw my attention, concerning which he believes the cost is great and the abolition thereof would lead to a significant yield, I will ask Revenue to provide as detailed a costing as possible.

If the Deputy can bring any serious tax relief to my attention - if he thinks its cost is big and its abolition would lead to a significant yield - I will get the Revenue Commissioners to do as detailed a costing as possible on it.

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