Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are a couple of points there. The point I was trying to make to the Minister relates to the capital allowances companies would be entitled to to provide work stations and support workers when it comes to remote working. I heard the Minister's comments on the advantages for businesses and all the rest of it, and I am not suggesting that there should be a blanket provision for every company. There are companies, however, that probably need additional support to assist their employees to operate remotely. It is unfair on some workers if they do not have that type of support.

I was asking the Department to look at the concept of using an alternative to the wear and tear provision, which goes over eight years, where there would be some type of accelerated capital allowance for specific companies that would need it that would allow them to offset the full cost. It does not even have to be the full cost. When we look at accelerated capital allowances, we are looking at incentives in terms of energy efficiency and equipment that is energy efficient. This could be a different model, covering 50% of the cost or whatever, but as opposed to the eight-year horizon under the wear and tear allowance. It should be in the mix and it needs to be considered. I am not suggesting, as I said, that this should be available to every company. Many companies can absorb this cost themselves. There is a benefit in not having people in offices given the high cost of commercial property and all of that. I will leave that there and perhaps the Minister might respond to that point.

The second point is about the frontier or cross-Border workers. The Revenue Commissioners have come out with guidelines and have waived the rules with regard to Covid-19. I am asking that we look past the Covid-19 pandemic. What we have here is an issue that it is just the way life and work are going. While some companies want people in their offices, not everybody is going to be in their offices all the time. Where we are going to land is probably in a type of hybrid model where there will be much more flexibility with work, where people will want to be able to get to the office but will also want to work at home.

For frontier or cross-Border workers, this simply does not exist. They will be double-taxed because the cross-Border relief here is lost in its entirety if a person works one day from the South, whereas a northern worker working in the South can have 60 days. Our proposal is quite restrictive.

I see many potentially unintended consequences if one went with a 60-day measure. I am not arguing for that but instead hoping that the tax strategy group would look at this area, particularly in the context of Brexit, the Good Friday Agreement and how we need to support cross-Border workers. It should also be examined in the context of the environment and carbon tax. It could be a case where, for taxation purposes, a worker has to travel 40 or 50 miles every day when both the employer and employee wants one day a week at home but cannot do it because they would be double-taxed.