Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Mary White in her call for a debate on inheritance tax. She is probably onto a winner. In June I read that the Minister or his advisers stated he was considering something. I hope there will be a positive response. He stated something about widening the bands. It was the case a child could inherit more than €500,000 and the rest was taxed at 22% whereas now the threshold is down to €225,000 and the rest is taxed at 33%. Deputy Alan Farrell and Senator Catherine Noone have also spoken about this. Many people are speaking about it and I hope it will be successful. I also advocate it. Fair play to Senator White for raising it, as have Deputy Alan Farrell and Senator Catherine Noone. I hope the Minister, Deputy Noonan, will hear it loud and clear.

I wish to speak about human trafficking, the arrest made in Donegal this morning and the freeing of six people. Slave labour and the sex trade are still going on. I call for a debate on the draft national action plan on human trafficking. A review was carried out on the national action plan on human trafficking in 2011 when the Government came into office, but a new plan is in the process of being drafted. Denise Charlton of the Immigrant Council of Ireland has called for action on this issue. I compliment the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, on publishing the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill last week. It is part of it. Committee D of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly reported on human trafficking, and publication of the national action plan is a follow-up to this. It is timely to call for a debate on it in the Seanad.

Education grants are an ongoing issue at present. If a young person is living at home, and when I say "young" I do not mean students straight out of school but those aged over 23, the means of the parents are taken into consideration, but if they are out of the home it is the student's independent means that are taken into account. I would like a debate on education grants as a whole to see how students are treated. Grants are one thing, but there is also a standing fee put on by the college. I call for a debate on this, if the Leader will facilitate it.