Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will certainly take that into consideration as part of any changes we are going to make. Like I said, however, I am not entirely clear as to why an employer would refuse to fill out this form. Expenditure on FIS in 2000 was €39 million. It went up to €186 million in 2010 and will probably hit €413 million in 2016. This has been a significant expansion in the number of families in receipt of FIS. My concern is the reverse, namely, that employers know FIS exists and believe they can get away with paying less than they should because the social protection system will top it up. It seems to be strange, therefore, that employers would refuse to sign this form.

See this speech in context