Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Under this section the stamp duty payable on holdings of fewer than 40 ha would be 1%. We are trying to maintain some semblance of support for smallholders, who are literally being pushed off the land. We want to keep those farms viable and keep those units in production. We must support them in any way we can, through stamp duty and all other areas, rather than being overly punitive. They are disappearing. They are unable to make a living. We talked about this earlier in discussions on carbon tax. The Minister was at pains to argue that they can reclaim tax. Many of these people do not have a taxable income. The kind of people I am talking about are disappearing from the landscape and our country will be a much poorer place without them.

The same applies to rural villages and towns, both small and not so small. My own town of Clonmel was the biggest inland town in the country until recently. The duty on closed commercial premises with a value of up to €200,000 that reopen - that is the key point - is to be lifted by 1%. Different schemes have been introduced for the regeneration and renewal of towns. However they have not had anything like the impact that is necessary. We need to get some of those businesses open and working again. People living over or behind their premises would do two things. It would regenerate towns' streetscapes and create living towns and above all it would get rid of the many derelict and shuttered businesses. More are closing every week due to the pressures created by online shopping and the proliferation of big supermarkets on the outskirts of towns. These trends are killing the high streets and the businesses on them. I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. We made a pretty exhaustive study of high streets, making comparisons between England, Northern Ireland and various parts of Ireland, including Tipperary. This is a problem throughout the British Isles. We need to be focused and do much more to encourage these businesses to reopen. The costs of a change of use can be huge. Stamp duty is also a huge issue. It is very difficult to get a business up and running again. Rates breaks have been available for several years, but we need to do much more than that.

I see that amendment No. 98 has been ruled out of order. I am a bit bewildered as to why. Deputy Fitzmaurice has been told that it will create a charge on the people. I fail to see how. This is the problem. Amendment No. 98 is intended to keep people in their holdings and support businesses. We are trying to stop the expansion of huge the conglomerates that are buying up thousands of acres of land. We are going back to the landlords of the days of yore. We used to have the Land Commission, but now there are absolutely no barriers to stop them buying up property. This is totally counterproductive. How would this amendment create a charge on the people? It would create income for the Department of Finance. It might be a tax on the conglomerates, but they often buy up land with the help of Chinese investments. God knows where the money is coming from.

This would raise revenue. I have tried to introduce this for the last five or six years and the Government has failed to grasp the opportunity. It is a hugely acute issue in my county and many others. Conglomerates are buying tens of thousands of acres of land and pricing anybody else out of the market. Young farmers who are trying to get into dairy farming or expand their herd or acreage do not have a hope. This will have a huge impact on families and communities. Without farming families, no one will be employed on the land, attend the schools or form GAA, soccer or rugby teams. There will be desolate villages, towns and rural areas. I would like to see the legal basis for the claim that this would create a charge on the people in the broader meaning of that term.

Our colleagues are in the High Court today to consider the money message question. I do not know how they will get on. However, this is about a limited number of people with huge resources. There is no land tax and no disincentive to stop them buying and buying. That is the case in Ireland and other jurisdictions, although we have no control over the latter. I am talking about horse syndicates. While I respect their prowess in the racing industry and the employment and entertainment they provide, this is no longer funny. In my county they have amassed up to 28,000 acres of land, a figure which is growing. Surely, there is some way to deal with this issue in the Finance Bill. We were talking about viable farms earlier, but what about that acreage? We have set the bar very high in this amendment, at 220 ha or 500 acres. Very few farmers have 500 acres.