Jackie Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 213: To ask the Minister for Finance if the adoptive parents of foreign children can have the expenses they incur while going through the adoption process tax deductible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36326/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Tax relief is not available in respect of adoption process expenses incurred by adoptive parents concerning either Irish children or children from abroad. I would refer the Deputy to the longstanding practice of Ministers for Finance not to comment on what may or may not be contained in upcoming budgets. I do not intend to depart from that approach.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 214: To ask the Minister for Finance the way in which a person (details supplied) in County Kildare can make an application for tax relief for service charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36350/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I have been advised by the Revenue Commissioners that a letter issued to the taxpayer on 22 November 2005, outlining the various methods by which he may make application for tax relief for service charges and attaching a copy of the information available on the website. Claims for claiming back credits in respect of service changes may be lodged through any one of the following channels: by contacting any of the four regional lo-call telephone numbers, details in table 1; by accessing the Revenue website where, on the home page, a person is invited to use electronic services to claim for domestic refuse charges; by using the PAYE self-service mobile telephone text messaging facility, details of this facility are again available on the home page of their website; or by calling into one of the nationwide network of revenue information offices.

In addition to Dublin, the Revenue Commissioners also have a number of regional offices throughout the country in Galway, Castlebar, Sligo, Letterkenny, Athlone, Dundalk, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Thurles, Cork, Limerick and Tralee. Specific details on tax relief for service charges are contained in form IT 27, which is available on their website, www.revenue.ie and gives an overview of: the service charges which qualify for tax relief; the individuals who qualify for tax relief; the conditions applicable for tax relief; and the amount of the tax relief. In addition, the leaflet outlines the application procedure for claiming tax relief, depending on the method of payment of the service charges.

Table 1. Lo-call phone service: Revenue has 600 PAYE customer service staff available in PAYE regional offices to answer phone calls from PAYE customers, to amend tax credit allowances and to deal with PAYE repayments. East and south-east region, customers in counties Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Meath, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow: 1890 44 44 25. Dublin region, customers in Dublin city and county, 1890 33 34 25. Border midlands west region, customers in counties Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath: 1890 77 74 25. South-west region, counties Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick: 1890 22 24 25.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 215: To ask the Minister for Finance if the tax free allowance to single parents is equal regardless of the number of dependent children. [36381/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The position is that, as a general rule, the tax credits available to parents are not related to family size. Accordingly, a claimant who qualifies for the one-parent family tax credit, which is in addition to the basic personal tax credit, is entitled to only one such credit for any year of assessment irrespective of the number of qualifying children resident with her or him in that year.

However, any parent, including a single parent, who has an incapacitated child, or children, is entitled, in addition to the basic personal tax credit and the one-parent family tax credit, if appropriate, to an incapacitated child tax credit in respect of each incapacitated child.