The information requested by the Deputy is available in relation to accounting periods falling between 1 April 1992 and 31 March 1993, in respect of which corporation tax was payable in calendar year 1993. These are the first accounting periods for which the offset against the bank levy became available. For those accounting periods, the total amount of bank levy which has been claimed by banks for offset against their corporation tax liability was £26 million. This figure, I might add, is provisional pending final confirmation by the Revenue Commissioners of the appropriate amounts which qualified for the offset.
As regards the second part of the Deputy's question, I would emphasise that the major objective of the new bank levy arrangements introduced in 1992 was to encourage them to increase the size of their corporation tax amount while at the same time guaranteeing, through the levy, an adequate receipt to the Exchequer. The new provisions for the levy provide the banking sector with an opportunity to reduce the impact of the bank levy on their annual profit results shown in their commercial accounts but to achieve this a bank must increase its corporpation tax liability above a certain threshold. This threshold, however, is not static and moves up in line with any increase in accounting profitability of the bank in question.