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

We do care as a Government and I certainly care. We have child benefit in Ireland, which is at the higher end of child benefit payments throughout the world. It is universal and does not make any distinction between parents who decide to parent at home or those who decide to or have to work outside the home. It is not always a decision to have two incomes. Some people have to do so because of the cost of living. When we were negotiating, alongside the former Minister of State, Kathleen Lynch, the free GP care for children aged under six, I was very conscious of the impact it would have on household budgets.

The cost of increasing the homemaker's tax credit is €7 million for every €100 in the credit. I did not specify an amount in the paper I produced because, as I stated in the paper, everything is contingent on the public finances and the ability to pay. I acknowledge that a €100 increase in the homemaker's tax credit is quite small. It is very modest. What I have in mind is something much greater than this. What the Deputy is touching on, and what I need to do a lot more work on, and certainly the next Minister for Finance might be able to do some work on it, is whether the homemaker's tax credit could be made refundable. This would entirely deal with the issue the Deputy mentioned. Not having access to this type of information, I did not want to write it into the paper.

See this speech in context