Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 217: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of people claiming one-parent family payment tax credit in each of the past three years; the number of those in which a child habitually resided with the parent; the number in which the child did not habitually reside but maintenance was paid; and the number in which the child did not habitually reside but maintenance was not paid. [12254/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the numbers of income earners availing of the one parent family tax credit for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 are estimated at 131,400, 136,700 and 136,600 respectively. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

The numbers availing of the credit represent income earners who were in a position to absorb at least some of the one parent family tax credit and thereby give rise to an Exchequer cost. They do not include the numbers of potential claimants whose entitlements to other tax credits were sufficient to reduce their liability to tax to nil.

The figures are estimates from the Revenue tax forecasting model using actual data for the year 2005 adjusted as necessary for income and employment growth for the years in question and are therefore provisional and subject to revision.

The one parent family tax credit is a credit that can be claimed by a single parent (whether widowed, single, deserted, separated or divorced) who has a dependent child resident with him/her for the whole or part of the relevant tax year. When applying for the one parent family tax credit income earners are not required to include details relating to the dates of the child's residence or maintenance in their tax returns. There is, therefore, no statistical basis on which the Revenue Commissioners could provide an estimate of the numbers sought by the Deputy in relation to these details.