Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed the Minister did not answer the question I asked, whether he is considering the introduction of a capital assets test that would see productive assets in excess of €750,000 included when assessing families for a maintenance grant. I would like a direct reply to that question. It has been given wide coverage in newspapers. If it is the case, where did the €750,000 figure come from, especially for agricultural land? There was speculation in the media that the figure was provided by Teagasc. Is that the case and can the Minister give a breakdown of the figure?

It might help if the Minister could provide some reassurance to some of his coalition partners in Fine Gael that it is not his intention to create a communist state, about which some of them seem to be alarmed. That might be a bit over the top, even for the Minister. It indicates, however, the serious alarm among farmers and the self-employed about the Minister's plans. The Minister must be clear today because there has been a lot of contradictory comment from Government Deputies and Ministers on this. Will he inform the House that he will not include productive assets for the self-employed? There is only one way to assess people's income and that is to look at the real income.

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