Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will make some observations. A decision will not be made by this committee. Some of the previous speakers wished us well in making our decision. We will not be making the decision. We will possibly be giving recommendations but it will be for the Oireachtas as a whole and the Government to make a decision.

On farmers, there is always a debate about capital assets but the truth is the average farm income was €24,000 last year. Many farmers are very badly off. That is often left out of the debate on capital assets. There may or may not be an argument for capital assets but farm incomes are extremely low and precarious and that is the bottom line as to why many farmers' children are on maintenance grants.

On the national training levy, there is no doubt it will play a role in whatever decision is made but the current levy is €380 million a year. If one doubles that, which would be a massive imposition, it is still only a tiny bit of the sum. I cannot see anyone proposing that. That is my observation. I do not know if IBEC has any observation on the impact of the training levy. The levy at the moment is 0.7% on employees. It is €382 million. If it was brought up to 1%, it would still only be €500 million. It would be way short of where we need to be. It will have to pay a role. Does IBEC see any role for an increase in that? How will it impact on its members?