Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before addressing the substance of these amendments I would like to take the opportunity to advise the committee that I am considering bringing forward an amendment on Report Stage on the matter of accelerated capital allowances for farm safety and adaptive equipment.

The employment and investment incentive, EII, is a state aid measure operating within the EU's general block exemption regulations and, as such, it applies equally to all regions in the State. A regional variation of EII would require separate state aid approval from the European Commission. At the moment, areas along the Border, for example, could equally make the point that their SMEs are facing particular difficulties that similarly warrant special variations of measures such as KEEP and EII. As the Deputy will appreciate, I must be careful not to breach EU rules on regional aid.

The second amendment proposes consideration of the extension of relief in the form of capital allowances on industrial buildings and industries in specified areas in counties Offaly and Longford. In broad terms, an industrial building is a building or structure in use for the purpose of a number of specified trades, including, for example, a trade carried out in a mill, factory or other similar premises. A business may claim capital allowances on such buildings, usually at a rate of 4% per annum over 25 years. There is no geographical limit to this provision. Therefore, the relief is already available to businesses incurring qualifying expenditure in the towns named by the Deputy. I note that capital allowances for capital expenditure on plant and machinery for the purpose of a trade are also available, again, irrespective of the geographic location. If the proposal is to consider widening the scope of relief for industries in the named towns to include buildings that would not normally qualify for industrial building allowances, the committee should be aware that it is not possible for the State to provide geographically targeted tax incentives other than in accordance with EU regional aid guidelines. These do not allow for the level of targeting suggested by the Deputy and for this reason I cannot accept the proposed amendment.

I listened to what Deputy Naughten said and the various issues that he raised regarding the future of the power station buildings and his understanding of the plans the ESB has for those buildings in the future. I will pass on the issues to which he referred to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I have visited one of the power stations to which the Deputy referred and I am well aware of the consequences of that building not having a viable plan for future use. I will raise the issues raised by Deputy Naughten with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

As Deputy Naughten acknowledged, the ESB is a semi-State company, which makes decisions in accordance with its own mandate. I know the ESB is conscious of the impact of the decisions it is making on current and former employees, and it is trying to handle the issues that are at stake here as carefully and as sensitively as possible.

I welcome the clarification from the Deputy on the stay-and-spend programme. It was not designed to deliberately discriminate against any part of the country and against the counties to which the Deputy referred. We do have to ensure that if taxpayers' money is being used to avail of a relief, that it is being used by businesses that are registered for the activity against which the relief is intended. That is a very reasonable position to hold. As Deputy Naughten clarified, it is not the intention of the Government to discriminate against any part of the country.

I have a brief in front of me on the work that Kieran Mulvey is doing on behalf of the just transition task force and commission. I know the task force published a report on its work on 22 May and the Government made available a further €15 million as part of the July stimulus plan in order to commence a multi-year programme to rehabilitate 33,000 ha of Bord na Móna peatlands. I expect that kind of commitment will form the core of how we will look to support the just transition in the midlands region because the Government is aware of the many difficulties that have been emphasised by Deputy Naughten in his contribution this morning.