Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the clarification. Outside of the technical considerations with regard to what I am seeking to do with this amendment, namely, to make matters clearer, the statements from the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Noonan, that it can be aggregated and that this can be done in respect of a number of contractors are welcome. I tabled an amendment on the issue relating to contractors on Committee Stage but the Government had already accepted the principle involved. What we are discussing here is the fact that it can be aggregated over a number of years. That is not in dispute and I welcome the confirmation from the Minister for Finance in this regard. Reading the text of the Bill, however, I cannot understand how this interpretation can be made. The clarification has been given. In addition and as the Minister of State and I have indicated, this debate will provide clarity to those who will implement the legislation.

Let us focus on the key issue. We have accepted the principle relating to multiple contractors and the qualifying period. The Minister of State referred to what is meant by years of assessment. There can only be one year of assessment, namely, the year in which the claim is made. The Bill does not contain a definition in respect of the term "year of assessment" but the Minister of State has indicated that it is the year in which the claim is made and not the eligibility period which runs from October of this year to December 2016. Subsection (3)(a) states that "where an individual ... on making a claim in that behalf, proves that in a year of assessment he or she has made a payment or payments to a qualifying contractor in respect of qualifying expenditure to which this section applies, the income tax to be charged on the claimant, other than in accordance with section 16(2), shall be reduced". Basically, the person will receive the income tax reduction during the following two periods. If we change the term "year of assessment" to a particular date, the subsection will then read "where an individual ... on making a claim in that behalf, proves that in 2014 he or she has made a payment or payments to a qualifying contractor in respect of qualifying expenditure to which this section applies, the income tax to be charged on the claimant, other than in accordance with section 16(2), shall be reduced". That is fine but the problem is that a claim can only be made if €5,000 is spent. Claimants are not being asked to prove that they made payments in the other years which are not years of assessment.

I am not sure whether the Minister of State is following what I am saying. Under subsection (3)(a), claimants are only being asked to provide proof of the payments made in the year in which the claim is made. They are not asked to provide proof in respect of payments made in the previous year or years which bring the total amount involved up to €5,000. How does all of this marry with what is contained in subsection 3(d)?

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