Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

A councillor in Kilkenny continuously raises with me the issue of the changes the Government has made to benefit in kind. This has impacted severely on employees. Employers who wish to reward long-serving and loyal employees are now having their hands tied behind their backs. The Government should re-examine this issue. Employers should be rewarded and not penalised for initiatives such as paying their employees' VHI expenses and so on.

It is a mistake on the Government's part that it has not included tax breaks for public hospitals. Deputy Bruton raised this matter in the Dáil and, to be fair, the Minister for Finance agreed to examine it. I read an interesting article about obesity levels in Ireland. Someone questioned whether we should have tax breaks for gym membership. Perhaps this would be worth examining.

Although there were many welcome measures in the recent parental leave Bill, one disappointing aspect is that people who take time off work will be unpaid. This may be acceptable for middle-class people but someone on the minimum wage or a lone parent would not be able to manage. The Government has missed opportunities to help ordinary people in this Finance Bill.