Staycation tax rebate
Deputy Munster questioned whether families holidaying in peak summer would benefit from the proposed tax rebate. The Taoiseach said Cabinet would finalise the measures and he would not announce details in the House.
I wish to raise the Government's staycation tax rebate plan. Are the reports that there is absolutely nothing in the plan for families that are taking their holidays in the peak summer season true? Children have been out of school for six months. Hopefully, they will be able to return in September. This means that families are not in a position to take their holidays in September. Is the Government deliberately introducing measures that it knows the majority of people will not be able to avail of? To judge by the way the matter has been reported, the Government is adding insult to injury because very few people will be able to avail of what is in the plan. If that is not the case, will the Government amend the design of the plan to ensure that the majority of families taking their holidays during the peak summer months will be able to avail of the staycation tax rebate? If it is the case, the Government seriously needs to rethink this.
Comment on this
I am not going into the details or announcing anything here. The Cabinet will meet to discuss this and to finalise a variety of measures that are really about sustaining jobs and trying to create alternative employment opportunities for people over the next 12 months. There will be an immediate impact in the context of shovel-ready projects, various initiatives and so on. The latter is not just for this month, it is right through to the end of the year and beyond.