Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 43:

In page 76, before section 33, to insert the following new section:"33.—The Minister shall within 3 months of the passing of this Act prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann an analysis of the tax expenditures included in this Act, setting out their incurred cost to the State and the impact they have had on job creation, volume of new start-ups, preventing job losses and other such impacts.".

If I were to redraft the amendment, it would not provide for three months, which is obviously not sensible here. The argument has been made on many Finance Bill measures in the last couple of years that they will assist jobs. We have just discussed another one in that way. I have a bee in my bonnet about SARP which is supposed to be tied in with job creation but we have no figures on that yet. I ask in this amendment that tax expenditures, which are important, should be costed and listed where possible and their effect on job creation, new start-ups and the prevention of job losses assessed. It might take a full year to assess those matters, but we should not allow the Finance Bill to pass year by year without a proper critique of the impact on the economy. It is something I would like to see happen as a matter of course. The Minister believes that certain measures will influence decisions and have a particular impact on the economy but it is important that we try to measure that after an appropriate period. To be fair, three months is not an appropriate period, but the assessments should be done as a matter of course where possible.