Mr. A. J. Noonan:

We will have a seamless transition. The Deputy also raised the issues of social welfare and procurement. The roll-over relief is a similar issue to the capital gains one. The same point applies as that which Mr. Talbot made in the context of capital gains tax, namely, that it is about building confidence and giving entrepreneurs a chance.

On the issue of social welfare, the annual budget of the Department of Social Protection is €20.3 billion. The Minister attended our council meeting recently and she gave us an amazing statistic, namely that 4% of those on social welfare cannot afford to come off it because it would not be worth their while. We came across one example of a chap who lost his job. He was earning €40,000, was married with three children and was renting a house. He would have to be earning €70,000 per year to go back to work, which shows clearly that there is something wrong with the system. A report published a number of weeks ago indicated that the main issue is not the basic rates of social welfare payments but the ancillary services and benefits to which people are entitled. Having said all that, we want social welfare payments to go to the people who need them. We have no problem with that.

On the question of procurement, the schoolbooks contract has gone to the UK and hundreds of jobs have been lost. There would be a national emergency if 1,000 jobs were lost in one company, but because the job losses were spread all over the country, the impact is hidden. This is a huge issue and one that politicians will face on the doorsteps more and more in the coming years. I do not blame the OPW. It has political masters which it must obey. A principle has been set out and that principle is fine, but it should be applied in the context of the broader economy as opposed to the single issue of saving a few bob, because that will cost us a lot more in the long run.