Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to comment on the issue of work permits. One thing we have to ensure is that our long-term unemployed have an opportunity to get back into the workforce. I compliment Mr. Parlon and his association on their engagement with the local employment service, LES, in focusing on upskilling and training people who have been out of the workforce for a long period. A lot of that has been done in the inner city. I must say, not everyone has been as good. I have seen quite a few blank faces when I have tried to discuss access for the long-term unemployed and for older people, that is, those over 50 years of age. There seems to be a resistance in those organisations to seeing those people as possible good employees. However, I compliment Mr. Parlon on the work his organisation has done in partnership with the LES, and I encourage other organisations to copy some of its initiatives.

Where apartments are concerned, the issue is one of quality. I am still dealing with the problems of the 2000s when so-called reputable developers left mayhem and destruction across this city with so-called quality-built apartments featuring cold bridging or downright dangerous construction. I am still living with the problems, and so are the residents. We cannot go back there. I totally accept that finance is a factor and has to be dealt with. In the construction industry, I am slightly nervous about finance. We should start looking at equity uptake rather than opting for 90% and 100% borrowings as we did in the 1980s. Sometimes we hear that sound very loudly.

I have a couple of questions about business improvement districts, BIDs. Having worked on the business improvement districts, I would urge people to be careful with their language. The ratepayers were given a full list of services provided by the local authority, down to the number of times a stop sign on a particular street would be cleaned. The business improvement district scheme consisted of additional services on top of that. That was my experience of BIDs. That was the contract arrived at. The additional levy was for additional services. There may have been a problem during the recession, when the council could not provide the basics, but we need to return to that. The extra payment in a business improvement district should provide additional services. In Dublin city, that extensive consultation document is still there, so we should get the local authority to fulfil its side of the contract.

I must also ask about sunshine tax. I live in the city centre. Outdoor tables can be a blessing and also a disaster. I like outdoor tables for reasons of passive policing and things like that. It is all counted as additional services. However, in the part of the city in which I live, a charge is normally applied for the renting of space in a public area. I would not deem it a tax if a business is renting public space to put tables out. I do not count that as a tax. It is a business proposition. The business is renting the space, for use as a commercial entity, from the citizens of the city through the local authority. It is referred to as a sunshine tax, but I do not buy into language like that. We have to be honest, precise and fair with each other. The charge should reflect the possible business return on that table. Accordingly, I would agree with Mr. Cummins on standardisation. Outdoor seating has different economic returns in Kildare town and in Dublin, and that should be reflected in different charges.

I totally accept the point on water charges and their equalisation. All organisations must be honest with their membership and with citizens and small businesses. In many cases that will mean an increase in water charges for small businesses. That is the reality. Some of those will be the most vulnerable small businesses.

Mr. Parlon has advocated the 9% VAT rate for the construction industry for a long time. I often listen to my colleagues, and the biggest argument is that if a 9% VAT rate is introduced as a temporary measure, the rate will never go back up again, as we saw in the hospitality sector. I supported the 9% VAT rate in hospitality when it was introduced as a targeted measure, and I think it worked as such. It now needs to be refined further. Hundreds of millions of euro in tax has been forgone to assist the hospitality sector. Some of that sector no longer needs that targeted intervention, yet some other areas do, such as rural Ireland. With regard to the hospitality sector, I would be interested to know if there is a way of targeting that forgone tax to particular areas that are in trouble. Some restaurants in the capital are doing extremely well, and their prices have not been controlled. I have seen restaurants not too far from Mr. Parlon increase prices by 20% or 25%. Mr. Parlon has probably paid the prices himself when visiting.

Something that costs hundreds of millions of euros in forgone taxes must be targeted properly. I am not talking about a reduction in assistance to the industry. However, in the hospitality sector, I would certainly like to see that forgone tax targeted to assist businesses that are still being challenged by Brexit and the performance of the American market, which has suffered. If we consider how best to spend hundreds of millions of euros in forgone tax, I am not too sure that the 9% VAT rate is the proper way to assist the industry. We need to target it much better, and speaking as a Senator that comes from Dublin, we must target it to assist industries outside of Dublin.

I remember being lobbied extremely hard on visas when I was a Minister of State. Since I had access to the information, I enquired about the number of people with the required skill sets in a particular sector of the industry. Those skill sets were available. Suitable people were on the live register and their skill sets were still new. As the recovery kicks in, we must ensure that those who lost their jobs at the beginning of the recession have an opportunity to get back into employment. I will give Mr. Parlon credit where it is due. The construction industry has stepped up in that area, but not all the industries have.