Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

The last couple of sections of the Bill were approved by the House. I will point out to the Minister of State that Government Mercedes cars do not come under the heading of benefits-in-kind, BIK, nor are they liable for the parking levy. The only thing the ordinary person gets out of those sections of the Bill is a bicycle. We are making a special case for ourselves and separating ourselves from the public. The provisions in these sections should apply to Government as much as they apply to the ordinary citizen.

The Minister of State is painting this as trying to be fair to every single citizen and that is wrong. These are significant costs for elderly people, especially as the Minister has got rid of their automatic entitlement to a medical card.

I refer to my recommendation 2c on the impact of dental costs on families and children under the age of 16. Orthodontics, dental work and health care are a huge expense for elderly people and young families. To suggest that everyone will be treated equally is completely wrong. The State should be providing many of these services and it fails to provide them. The marginal rate of tax relief should be allowed to apply to this extremely costly expense for many families.

The Minister of State will know that many young children will receive dental treatment over a continuous period of time and they may well be undergoing treatment not yet paid for, and parents will be hammered by not getting the tax relief on the extra costs. The same will apply to some individuals over the age of 70. Their automatic entitlement to a medical card has been taken away from them. If they have substantial health care costs within the community and they are not ill enough to go to a nursing home, they will be heavily penalised by this measure. This measure is incredibly regressive and is not fair.