Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

It is wrong to take up the new mantra that all tax reliefs are wrong. Is it wrong that trade union membership fees or bin charges provide for tax relief? We need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

This is a modestly worded recommendation. Had I been drafting it myself, Senator Twomey would have gone a little further. It simply states the Minister may - not shall - in consultation with the Minister for Health and Children introduce specific reliefs. When I raised this matter on the Adjournment some weeks ago, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children promised me his office would engage in thorough and urgent discussions with the Department of Finance on the matter. All Members want to see more primary care centres developed. It is a Government and Health Service Executive policy to see 250 such centres. The opportunity to provide them is now on a knife edge unless some type of assistance is given.

I appreciate Senator Alex White's argument about tax forgone. On other hand there is no tax at all because these developments will not happen. The Government must decide whether it will forgo some tax or collect no tax at all. I wish the economy was in a stronger position so that these primary care centres would be already under construction. It will not happen if some relief or assistance is not provided. It should be possible for the Department, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Children, to introduce a series of modest reliefs to kick-start the development of these urgently needed centres.

It is a mistake to declare retrospectively that all tax reliefs and incentives were wrong.