Harney claim on condom VAT rejected

Minister for Health Mary Harney's claim that EU legislation prevents the Government from reducing VAT on condoms is "misleading", a Labour Party MEP said today.

Dublin MEP Proinsias De Rossa said Ms Harney was scapegoating EU regulations as "a cover for Government inertia".

Ms Harney made her comments yesterday at the unveiling of the new five-year strategy of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency.

The agency said the cost of contraception was an issue it would try to address as it had been cited by 32 per cent of people as a factor discouraging them from using contraceptives.

When asked about the possibility of reducing VAT on condoms, Ms Harney said: "Much and all as one would love to see some of these things happen, the reality is there are EU-wide implications - they certainly couldn't be done by us without reference to Europe, as I understand it."

But Mr De Rossa said today that the 27 EU member states are free to fix their own VAT rates on condoms subject to a minimum rate of 5 per cent.

Mr De Rossa said: "How is it that a Minister notorious for advocating tax cutting policies cannot bring herself to do same in the service of public health? How is it that she is not aware that the UK cut their VAT rate on condoms, with commission approval, in 2006 from 17.5 per cent to 5 per cent?

"How come she is so out of touch with such an important initiative for cutting the rates of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases?"

Mr De Rossa called of the Minister for Finance to reduce VAT on condoms from 21 per cent to the minimum possible of 5 per cent in the budget.