Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have made most of the points that I sought to make at this stage. I get the impression that people are genuinely trying to create a picture in which some people are sitting at home while their parents are providing them with bed, board, maintenance and support with education. The Revenue Commissioners have made the point; it is not a question of my saying it. Representatives from the Revenue Commissioners have said it publicly and the Revenue Commissioners are the independent taxing authority. They are the people who must interpret it.

I have a degree of agreement with Senator Quinn's point. Certainly, it is what is in the statute that matters. There are lessons to be learned in respect of that point. Anyway, can we step back from the potential hysteria that there has been in respect of what this will do? People from the Revenue Commissioners will not come knocking on a person's door. They will not count up the bed and board arrangements and include whether a parent has brought his or her son to the cinema. This relates to serious people giving cash gifts and large sums of money. It is not about trying to put anyone in poverty.

People in the House on all sides speak eloquently about scarce resources and the importance of protecting vulnerable people and lower-paid workers. A worker would have paid €59,000 in tax by the time this provision would kick in for a corresponding adult child. We had this exchange in the Dáil and I was pleased to see all-party agreement. Not all Members agreed, but there was all-party agreement, because this is an anti-avoidance measure. The position of the Minister for Finance and my position is that we should put this in place and keep it under review. Furthermore, we should take the advice of the Revenue Commissioners, to which I attach significant importance, because those involved are the people dealing with our taxes every day, and we need to take in the tax that is legitimately owed to the State in order that we can deliver the services we want to have in place.