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

As the Deputy will be aware, any change, obviously, will occur in the finance Bill which is published directly after the annual budgetary process in October and November. The Government must ascertain in discussions with Revenue how this measure has progressed this year. My understanding is that somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 people have been affected by this change. It is also worth pointing out that one amendment introduced by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, in the course of Committee Stage of the Finance Bill reduced that number by approximately 2,000, whereby secondary claimants could claim the credit if the primary claimant was unable or did not wish to avail of it.

The Minister has already shown some flexibility in this regard in the original amendment. We will look at it again and, in discussion with Revenue, see how many people have been affected by this. From the information I have I understand that approximately 76,000 individuals availed of the one-parent family tax credit. That includes everybody, but not everybody can claim the maximum because of their income level. Of the 76,000, 24,000 were single males, a significant cohort of people, as the Deputy rightly brings to the attention of the House, so we will have to examine it this year in discussions with Revenue. If a committee of the House were also to investigate the issue this year we would re-examine it given the circumstances in which many men find themselves.

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