Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation. On initial reading of the document I was quite critical because it seemed to be a list of ten items outlining reductions, and my concern is that as a nation we are spending more than we are earning. Every time somebody comes in they seem to want reductions in charges, and that will not work the whole time. Nevertheless, it can work, and a shopkeeper knows that if he brings down a price cleverly, he can take in more money. Mr. Talbot mentioned that ability a few minutes ago, and the explanation of a reduce VAT rate on housing repair is exactly right. There is an opportunity to be able to reduce the VAT rate on housing repairs, and there will be benefits from 23% VAT coming from other items.

There are not enough similar ideas in the document. The case has been made that if capital gains tax is reduced to 16.5%, there will be a fair chance of providing incentives. In the past 20 or 30 years, Ministers for Finance have reduced rates and taken in far more money on that basis.

I would like to see more of that in this instance. If there were more figures in Chambers Ireland's ten point plan and if it were more targeted, the organisation would have a better chance of achieving something.

I will mention my own business as an example. We used to allow the local managers of our 24 stores to purchase on their own locally. When we eventually decided to bring it in together and buy centrally, we could not get over the huge savings we achieved compared with when we bought locally. I am not all that enthusiastic about giving responsibility to local businesses unless it can be shown that the figures are there. In our case, there was a dramatic difference in price.

I understand the delegation's point that the VAT rate is not necessarily paid in Ireland. The profit could be paid somewhere else on that basis. We have a good example in the form of last year's decision by the Minister to reduce the rate of VAT in the tourism sector. It seemed to give tourism a boost. It has been of benefit in that area. I would love to see more of that in these plans. The simple suggestion that has been made with regard to housing repairs sounds like a no-brainer to me. It seems to me that it is likely to work very easily if it is produced and promoted on the basis that has been outlined.

People are still saving rather than spending. They are saving because they do not have confidence in the future. Confidence is a delicate enough flower, but it could take off very easily if we made some changes. I think some of the steps that have been proposed by the delegation would improve confidence. I would love to see more figures. Rather than pursuing this ten point plan, perhaps Chambers Ireland could concentrate on a smaller number of proposals. I have some difficulty with the Northern Ireland approach of charging larger stores a higher rate to help the smaller stores on the main street. We need to find a way of making the main street work better. That will come from individual entrepreneurs. There are thriving main streets in some towns. The shops on those streets are generally not the traditional ones, however. As Mr. Murphy said earlier, we have the candlestick maker as well as the baker and the others. If we can find a way to encourage a mixture of shops, I think we can take off. The main one is confidence. I think expenditure will increase when we create confidence.