Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the language is not acceptable to the Senator, I will correct it. This is a very serious debate but we are bringing in a secondary debate on the specifics of the request for a report and a recommendation that I know is made by the trade union movement every year. I have met the movement’s representatives, read the proposal and have said I would happily benefit personally to the tune of €1.20 per week, but the Senator is talking about public policy when I am talking about the rationale for why it is deemed that the proposal would not have an impact. The Senator is taking the answer I gave and raising it in a separate context. I felt it was important to make the point that we are talking about actualities and the importance of actual measures in the relevant context as opposed to signals. I will repeat my point and the information can be sent to the Senator if she wishes. I stated the original Commission on Taxation recommended that the relief available at the time be discontinued as membership of a union is not influenced by the value of the tax credit and there was a significant element of deadweight associated with the relief. I take the Senator’s point on the public policy rationale but I do not believe it is valid in this arena. I stand over that and I will use whatever language I need to use to get that across. I am aware the measure proposed has great support and that there are reasons for proposing it but the reality is that the measure alone, in the form of a tax relief, cannot be justified on the basis of cost and because of the lack of the push it would give toward meeting the Senator’s objective.