Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The information I just gave is inaccurate. These are figures for the end of the account, so the €480 figure is for three years rolled up and the €635 figure is for five years rolled up. Therefore, they are smaller concessions than previously indicated. They are very small and are roughly one third of the sum calculated. These are exemptions that were in place for longer-term products and those exemptions will no longer be provided. In compensation, people who invest in longer-term products obviously get a much higher rate of interest. At the moment, on ordinary bank deposit accounts, the interest rate available is tiny. Therefore, people investing in longer-term products are not doing badly relative to others. Essentially this is a measure to shore up the DIRT system and to avoid people switching to these accounts. Over the long term, such accounts will not have the concessions they hitherto enjoyed. People will not have additional concessions if they are saving by way of longer-term accounts rather than by way of ordinary deposit accounts. That is the intention of the change.

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