I move amendment No. 13:
In page 17, line 16 to delete "paragraph (a)" and substitute "paragraphs (a) and (b)".
Up to this Finance Bill people who earned £70 interest on deposits in a number of institutions could claim tax relief on that figure. There was considerable pressure on the Minister and his predecessor to acknowledge that the figure of £70 was inadequate and was not an encouragement to people to save. Recognising that pressure and the legitimacy of the arguments the Minister increased the sum to £150, but he limited the institutions in which deposites could be placed to trustee saving banks and some other institutions and excluded the commercial banks which had previously been included. We raised this matter on Committee Stage of the Bill and the Minister's defence was that if he included these banks there would be legitimate representations from other banks. He would then be under some pressure to include these other financial institutions. In turn, this could have a damaging effect on Post Office savings and on building societies. I can see the problem but I cannot understand why the Minister has introduced this differential. If the Minister had amended the figure of £70 to £150 in respect of all institutions there would have been no problem.
As a general rule the financial institutions or the trustee savings banks do not have offices outside Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway. That means that in areas outside these centres a small depositor has the use of only the Post Office and I am sure I do not have to elaborate on that. Anybody who lives in rural Ireland will understand the reluctance of ordinary people to deposit their savings with the Post Office. If the choice were available to them, normally they would choose the commercial banks but because of the limitation proposed by the Minister they will not be able to benefit to the same extent as depositors with trustee savings banks and other financial institutions. The Minister has burdended himself with unnecessary problems. Many people in rural areas do not yet realise what is being proposed by the Minister but when they discover what is happening he will be under pressure from these ordinary individuals. They will try to ensure that the same allowance of £150 will be allowed across the board, as was the case with regard to the £70 allowance which applied previouly.