Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions, which were pretty wide-ranging in nature. Perhaps I did not explain the position adequately. The original employment investment incentive, EII, was approved in 2012 and came into effect at that time. However, changes were announced last year which are only now coming into effect and that is what triggered the need for these new changes. One of the issues negotiated during the course of the year was to have the employment investment incentive scheme, EIIS, included in the global block exemption. By doing that, we have bypassed the concern that Deputy Billy Timmins expressed to the effect that certain parts of the country were excluded from its remit. The changes being introduced today mean that medium-sized companies in non-assisted areas can now qualify for the employment investment.

The extension to the nursing home element comes about on foot a decision taken earlier this year, not last year. This extension is possible because of the global block exemption that has been agreed. The backdrop to this was that consultants were appointed to review nursing homes and this is a specific recommendation with which they came forward. They obviously had stakeholder consultations ahead of making the recommendation to the Minister for Health who, in turn, has supported the amendment that is being made.

Deputy Ó Caoláin raised the issue of why would we not build public nursing homes. This co-funding will make it cheaper for the Exchequer to provide the service of nursing homes.

Access to the nursing homes is on a single basis under the fair deal scheme, so the same terms of access apply for a patient entering either a public or a private nursing home. People can choose their nursing home and get the same level of support. If you like, the private sector is providing the nursing home, but access to it is dictated by Government policy and administered on an equal basis to all concerned. It is not giving people some inside track in getting access to nursing homes. The cost of the changes being made to the scheme through this resolution is estimated at €3 million.

I may have inadvertently given an incorrect figure earlier when speaking about the employment and investment incentive scheme. Fourteen hundred was the number of investors who qualified for relief last year. Since the new scheme came in, the number of companies involved has been 507. The typical amount of investment was just under €250,000 in each company and the relief was under €70,000 for each company. It is a way of getting access to credit and finance for small and medium-sized enterprises to make investments that have an impact on employment. At this point, we do not have an estimate of the jobs impact in the 507 companies involved, as sought by Deputy Denis Naughten. However, the scheme provides that there must be an employment impact for the full benefit to be derived. Clearly, this is a scheme that can be subjected to review, like any other. It was subject to review several years ago and was seen to be beneficial in terms of its impact, while many of the property-based reliefs were not. Property is excluded from eligibility under the scheme, ensuring that it cannot be used for buying land or solely developing or building a home. It can only be for extensions to improve or expand the operation of an existing nursing home.

To take up Deputy Mattie McGrath's point, in principle, there is no reason investors in not-for-profit institutions could not qualify for tax relief on their investments. I will bring this to the attention of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, who will examine whether this would be a worthwhile change in the forthcoming finance Bill.

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