Under EU VAT law with which Irish VAT law must comply, certain activities such as financial services or hospital and medical care are exempt from VAT and it would not be possible to change their VAT status without agreement at EU level.
I understand from the Revenue Commissioners that information on the extent of exempt activities, goods and services is not readily available and could only be compiled at a disproportionate cost. If a previously exempt activity becomes subject to VAT, offsetting credits in respect of relevant vatable inputs would have to be allowed to a registered trader and to any VAT registered customer. Therefore, the VAT yield to the Exchequer would be net of all such input credits.