Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I found the document very interesting. It dealt with a range of areas, including country-specific recommendations. To touch on the tax issue, it is almost like having one's maiden aunt visit one's house and criticise the furniture or the family. It commented on a list of things. One of them was tax and it referred to the fact VAT is zero rated compared to many other countries. It referred to our public health expenditure and stated it was among the highest in Europe. It stated that the cost of pharmaceuticals and child care was very high. It stated that lending to SMEs was weak and that lawyers' fees were high. It seemed to go on and on and I felt it was like one's maiden aunt visiting and criticising the house. However, that does not give us the answers and in this respect the steps the Minister is taking are admirable and the right way to go but the natural reaction is to ask what we can do other than what we are doing already.

Yesterday, I attended the launch of Springboard, which the Minister mentioned a couple of times. It is very impressive. We met not so much the students as those giving the courses in the colleges and universities. We heard about some of the success stories they have had over the past couple of years. Those participating have degrees but in areas in which there are no opportunities for them, in particular construction. Architects, quantity surveyors and so on are now switching to IT. Some of the stories were great. However, the real challenge is how to encourage them to start up a business. This rests on the Minister's shoulders. How can we remove the barriers and encourage people to start up companies? I am not sure we are doing nearly enough. There must be a system where we could encourage people to set up businesses by removing some of those barriers.

One of the things which was done in Britain was the "one in, one out". Now it has the "one in, two out". If a new constraint was introduced and somehow or other it influenced business, a previous one had to be taken out but now if a new piece of red tape is introduced, two pieces of red tape have to be taken out. That is the sort of thing with which we have to challenge ourselves, although perhaps we are doing something like that already.

The Seanad passed the upward-only rent review legislation. Rents are a huge burden on retail, which is suffering. Most retailers are having a huge difficulty with this. I urge the Government to pass that legislation in the Dáil. It does not have to be enthusiastic about it as the President will not sign it until he gets the Supreme Court to guarantee that it will work and that it is constitutional. This legislation should be passed and sent to the President, who will not sign it as there is a question over its validity from a constitutional point of view. However, he could refer it to the Supreme Court which would decide whether it is constitutional. If the Supreme Court states it is unconstitutional, that is the end of it but if it says it is constitutional, that will also be the end of it but it will remove one of the huge barriers for people who want to set up a businesses and compete, in particular in retail. Others mentioned hotels and other businesses. There is an opportunity to do something there. It is just one of the barriers which could be removed.