Mr. Sean Murphy:

We have profiled Lorcan Ó hÓbain, who runs ManagementWorks on behalf of Skillnets, in our publications and he has addressed some Chambers Ireland events.

Our pre-budget submission makes a number of proposals in respect of the employment incentive and investment scheme and the seed capital scheme. As we stated last year, more needs to be done to raise the profile of the seed capital scheme because people are not familiar with it. Certainty about the scheme is poor, as is drawdown. I recall a Deputy commenting last year that only one client in a particular operation had ever drawn down funds from the scheme. There is considerable pent-up demand in this area which could be tapped.

It is sobering to note that whereas €152 million was drawn down from the employment incentive and investment scheme in 2007, only €20 million was drawn down from the scheme last year. Demand has clearly collapsed. The Government must take action to address this issue. Measures it should consider include: the introduction of a seed employment investment incentive scheme; the removal of the high income earner restriction; the reinstatement of the minimum holding period for five years; and automatic qualification for medium-sized companies in non-assisted areas. We have a number of other suggestions but our main point is that action is needed. It is clear that something is wrong when the funding drawn down from a scheme declines from €152 million to €20 million. This ties in with our critique that demand is a major issue. If demand increased, debts would become much more manageable for everyone. This is a major issue and must be addressed.

As regards the French contribution économique territoriale scheme, having discussed the issue with some experts in this area, our view is that this scheme provides for a more nuanced approach to local taxes.