Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To clarify, I have not argued for the status quo; none of us has. We all recognise that changes and reform are required in this area. I am not asking the Minister to continue the double credit but simply to allow the credit to be shared in some cases, as happens in Holland and which could be done here. The Minister is partially allowing it where somebody cannot claim the full credit. If he or she is not working, he or she cannot claim the tax credit. However, in other instances there are residual amounts or there is an agreement that it is split 50:50. Many parenting agreements are now 50:50 and, thankfully, in recent times parents have stepped up to the mark to share the responsibility. Therefore, they should be able to share the credit. That is our view.

I am not arguing to retain the status quo. However, given the budgetary pressures on the Minister, the difficult Department he must deal with and the difficult juggling act in which he must engage with the figures every year to try to balance and present his budget, this is purely a financial measure which the Department has not thought through in terms of the social consequences. The Minister could save money by reforming it, on which I would support him. That is the point. I am not asking him to retain the system as it is; neither I nor my colleagues have argued for this.