Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. While I know he is not trying to be disingenuous and I acknowledge his offer to meet to see if this can be fixed, it is a deeply frustrating response. As the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, will tell the Minister, I explicitly said on Committee Stage that I did not want to be discussing my amendment on Report Stage but wanted to be discussing the Government's amendment. I know that my amendment is flawed. We have just dealt with three pages of detailed legalese aimed at figuring out how to stop employers from gaming the system if they want to build a gym or a crèche. The departmental officials have thought it through at great length. They have mapped the amendment to different parts of the tax code and to different Acts to make sure it is sound. No individual Deputy in this House has that capability.

On behalf of the families who are stuck in this situation, I do not accept an Ireland where the Government can say it can come up with the most detailed tax plans for vulture funds, property investors, employers who want to invest in gyms and non-domiciled residents, and where we have 1,000 pages of detail and armies of lawyers looking at ways of undermining us, as well as sweeping anti-avoidance powers within the Revenue Commissioners. We are able to do those things because that is our business yet, for these families, it is just too complicated and we cannot figure it out. On behalf of the families who are trapped, I do not accept that and I do not think it is a reasonable point to put forward.

I take the Minister at face value and acknowledge he is not trying to be disingenuous. Again, on behalf of these families, I appeal to the Minister. If he has the political will, in my experience, his very clever officials and their advisers will be able to figure this out in the same way they are able to figure out how to avoid having people get around the tax code in so many other ways.

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