The Tánaiste has said that people want certainty around the new investment accounts and that he wants more young people to get into saving. That includes the tens of thousands of ordinary people who get up early in the morning to go to work. Some of them, luckily enough, have been able to put savings into vehicles like exchange-traded funds. At present, those people are taxed on eight years of those savings, even if they have not sold a thing. They are taxed on something they have not sold as a capital gain. The Department of Finance refers to this as a deemed disposal. The people to whom I refer want two straight answers. First, will they be able to move their savings into these new accounts without paying exit tax? Second, will the Tánaiste and the Department finally scrap the concept of deemed disposals or are they going to continue to kick the can down the road? Deemed disposal is an unfair and uncertain tax. It should not be there at all.

I will make two points. First, in the context of the final detail of the scheme, we will have an opportunity to thrash all of that out in the debate on the Finance Bill post the budget, including how the new accounts will interact with other investment opportunities. I will be happy to consider all of the issues the Deputy raises then.

On deemed disposal, I am on record in this House - I am certainly on the record in lots of places - as stating we need to move beyond deemed disposal. It was of a different time. It was an anti-avoidance measure, so it would be important to replace it. Obviously, we need to still have anti-avoidance measures. How much we can do in this budget will depend on the overall tax package and competing priorities, but I do expect to make some progress on it. The retail investment roadmap I published this summer shows the clear direction of travel in terms of moving beyond deemed disposal.