Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I think the Deputy may be confusing the issues. My understanding is that the year of the assessment is not the year of the claim. I reiterate what I said earlier, namely, that in the current formulation of paragraph (a), there is no specific link between the making of a claim and the year of assessment in which payments are made to a contractor. When making a claim, the homeowner must prove that in either or both of the years covered by the scheme a payment or payments were made to the contractor or contractors who carried out the work. I do not know what is the issue with that.

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