Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Michael Mullins's call for tax incentive for doctors, particularly those who have given up jobs and gone back to college under the graduate entry programme. If I was to borrow money in the morning to set up a business, I would be entitled to write off the interest on those borrowings against the profits I make in the business. On the other hand, if I were to give up my job and borrow money to go back to college to study medicine, I would not be able to write off the interest against my earnings. That is wrong. I have received a very detailed submission from several junior doctors who had the initiative to sit down with some chartered accountants to discuss this matter.They prepared a detailed document about the net cost to the State but ignored the financial cost, which is a small amount. Between now and 2020 it would cost less than €5 million. There is a huge incentive for people who have given up their jobs and who want to remain here but are not entitled to currently to write off the interest on their borrowings against tax. That measure should be introduced, especially for people who have come in under the graduate entry programme and who have to pay full college fees to do medicine. It is wrong that we are not allowing that. I have sent a detailed submission to the Department of Finance and I am asking this House to support that submission and that it would be part of the Finance Bill for 2016 to ensure that junior doctors get some recognition that they are making a valuable contribution here. We are losing too many of them and once they leave, it is very difficult to get them to return. I support what Senator Mullins has stated.