Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has been good enough to acknowledge I am not trying to be disingenuous, which I am not. The difficulty I faced in dealing with this issue with the Deputy for the first time was that, while I approach all the issues in front of me with fresh eyes, as he would expect me to do, given all the other priorities I had to deal with in the context of putting together a full Finance Bill, it simply was not possible for me to see whether there is any way in which the issue he is raising could be dealt with in a way that would not cause issues for me in other parts of the tax code. I have outlined good reasons why I cannot accept this amendment and, in fairness to the Deputy, he has not challenged some of them, and I understand that he knows how careful we have to be in regard to the drafting of changes in our tax code.

I will commit to the Deputy that, in the aftermath of this Finance Bill, in which, for the reasons I have outlined, I cannot deal with this issue, I will meet him and will engage in a serious way to see if this issue can be addressed without causing issues elsewhere in the tax code. I understand the plight of many families who are in this situation. I do not have a monopoly on good ideas about ways to address serious matters in our society. This is the spirit in which this is being offered.

I did not answer a question Deputy Doherty put to me on the cost were this amendment to be accepted. We cannot give that cost at the moment because of the way the amendment has been drafted, given it makes reference both to the square footage of a property and what the level of rent might be. For that reason, we cannot give the Deputy such a cost. This goes back to the heart of the issue I have. Before going ahead to implement any code, including any other amendment change that I will have to implement across next year, I will only do it when I am certain as to what the cost is going to be. For those reasons, I cannot accept the amendment but I am making an offer to Deputy Donnelly that I will honour later on in the year.

See this speech in context