Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Unfortunately, I cannot say I am satisfied with it. I appreciate that tax evasion takes place. There is tax evasion in every walk of life in Ireland and across the globe. We are all well aware of that and we all want to eliminate tax evasion. However, the provision set out in the Bill is a blunt instrument. It is too broad, it is not sufficiently specific and is lazy in its construction. If the Revenue Commissioners are finding it difficult to clamp down on fraud, they should have brought to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, a provision that was better thought out and that would not discriminate against families, which is what this actually does. It is unacceptable that the Revenue Commissioners are refusing to publish their so-called guidance document in advance of Members voting on the Bill. The Revenue Commissioners have indicated that they will publish the document when the legislation has been passed. That is not acceptable because Deputies are being asked to vote in the dark. It is incumbent on the Minister of State and the Minister to ensure that there are much greater levels of - to steal a phrase that has been trotted out by every Minister in the past two weeks in respect of Irish Water - certainty and clarity. There is neither certainty nor clarity with regard to how the mechanism outlined in the Bill will function in practice. What we do know is that anybody of 18 years of age or 25, if he or she is in full-time employment, will be caught by this provision, which is not targeted at or focused on individuals who are evading tax by gaming the system.

I reiterate my view that the threshold which, as Deputy Shatter pointed out, has dropped by 60% to €225,000, is inadequate. I would be very concerned when a Fine Gael Minister for Finance is introducing amendments to the tax code in respect of which he is receiving support from Sinn Féin. We are aware of the direction in which that party's finance policy has the potential to lead the country.

I do not often bring issues relating to my constituents or individuals I meet in my constituency to the attention of the House. However, I wish to highlight the example of one individual by whom I was approached in 2013 when I was serving as a Minister of State. The man in question inherited a property in my constituency from one of his parents. The man's father had previously inherited it from his father. The property is located in Sandymount but I will not be any more specific than that.

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