Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment because it contains common sense in terms of giving people the opportunity to plan for a significant part of their lives. Like Deputy O'Dea, I oppose sections 5 and 6, simply because they are mean. The notion that we will take €32 per week from parents who want to take adoptive leave to enjoy spending time with a child they are about to adopt, thereby interfering with the circumstances of that family while they are trying to become familiar with the joy of adoption, is particularly mean.

I refer to yesterday's debate in the Dáil. There was an opportunity to raise revenue through the budget. The wealth taxes that were introduced last year, and much lauded by the Minister, Deputy Burton, as countermeasures to some of the odious decisions in budget 2013 are failing to yield revenue from wealthy people in this country. This budget is instead imposing levies on people who cannot afford them. It takes away from expectant women and families who want to adopt children. The amount being taken, €32, is not insignificant. It is appalling to think that the figures produced this week are not yielding the revenue expected from the wealth taxes introduced last year. Families are being required to pay for this shortfall.

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