David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 67: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the most up to date figures on the number of inquiries and the number of voluntary notifications respectively received by the child care committees from childminders who wish to avail of the income tax exemption; the breakdown of same per child care committee area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11966/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The number of voluntary notifications made by Childminders to the City and County Child Care Committees since the introduction of the Child Care Services Relief in December 2005 has been monitored by my Office on a regular basis. The most recent information available as of the end of November 2006 is summarised in the following table. These figures are updated on a quarterly basis and I anticipate that the latest figures will be updated by mid April 2007.

As the first tax year for which the exemption applies is 2006, Childminders have until 31 October 2007 to complete the necessary requirements to avail of the exemption. Until that time it is not possible to fully establish the take-up of this initiative. Furthermore, in Budget 2007 it was announced that the tax exemption threshold was to increase from €10,000 to €15,000. For that reason it is also expected to take some time to assess the effect of the increase in the threshold for the exemption, which will apply in respect of the 2007 tax year.