John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether DIRT paid on children's savings is unfair and a disincentive to save; his further views on an exemption for children under 18 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2997/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Under Section 257 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 all deposit takers are obliged to deduct Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) from payments of interest made to an account unless the account qualifies as an exempt account. There is no specific exemption in the case of interest paid on deposit accounts held by children. The wider tax code does not provide for an exemption from tax for children.  Children could be liable to a range of taxes.  Not many children have an income that exceeds the relevant thresholds, but those that do are taxable on it.

While all taxation measures are kept under review, there are no plans to provide that interest payable on children's accounts should not be subject to DIRT.  To provide an exemption from DIRT to children's accounts could be difficult to administer, from the point of view of establishing the beneficial ownership of the account.

A number of State Savings Products offered by the National Treasury Management Agency through An Post are tax free, subject to certain conditions.