Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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514. To ask the Minister for Finance the details of the Government mechanisms that are in place to measure the effectiveness of renter’s relief in reducing student hardships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45243/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Rent Tax Credit (RTC), as provided for in section 473B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA 1997), was introduced by the Finance Act 2022 and may be claimed in respect of qualifying rent paid in 2022 and subsequent years to end-2025.

For the years 2022 and 2023 the Rent Tax Credit is valued at a maximum of €500 per single individual and €1,000 per jointly assessed couple. For the years 2024 and 2025 the Rent Tax Credit is valued at a maximum of €1,000 per single individual and €2,000 per jointly assessed couple.

The Rent Tax Credit has played a valuable role in providing financial support to renters right across the country.

Both students (where they have sufficient income paid) or their parents (where they pay rent on behalf of their student child) may avail of the credit. However, as was said in the Budget 2023 speech, this measure is aimed at those renters who do not get any other housing supports. It is not a measure specifically targeted at students.

The primary mechanism for assessing Tax Expenditures is my Department's Guideline for Tax Expenditure Evaluation. The Guidelines set out the Department’s approach to the evaluation of tax expenditures, either before the introduction of a tax expenditure (ex-ante evaluation), or in reviewing a tax expenditure that is already in existence (ex-post evaluation). Broadly, the Guidelines set out that the following questions should be considered in an evaluation:

• Is the tax expenditure still relevant
• How much did the tax expenditure cost
• What was the impact of the tax expenditure
• What was the impact of the tax expenditure from an equality perspective
• What was the impact of the tax expenditure from an environmental perspective
• Was it cost efficient
• What additional data would be necessary to improve future reviews
• As noted above, while the objective of the measure is not specifically to address the position of students the Guidelines, and in particular the questions, allow for a broad range of matters to be taken into account.