Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to the second part, which I did not speak to. While I support this section, the presentation of the costs is not true. This is a reduction for companies in tax liability that would otherwise be coming to us. It is €137 million. If we did not make this change in this section, the Exchequer would be €137 million better off. That is the cost of this section, and any other presentation of that is wrong. Notwithstanding that, I understand the rationale of what the Minister is doing, and the importance of this sector despite the concentration of the receipts we are dependent on and that it is retaining the cash benefit of the credit heretofore.

The first instalment threshold that a company can claim now is either 50% or €50,000, whatever is bigger. That is to be welcomed. While reading this section of the finance Bill I was thinking, "They will get there eventually." We have been arguing for these types of measures for a number of years now. There was movement last year when the timeframe was reduced. It is now 50% in year one. I agree that one of the biggest challenges for a company is cash flow. It was also Sinn Féin that put forward the argument for a 30% research and development tax credit. Six or seven years ago we put forward that the payable credits from three instalments in three years should reduced to one instalment in one year. It is a cash flow issue at the end of the day. For the Exchequer it is also a small amount of money. When we look at the concentration with regard to this tax credit, I think it is definitely worth doing. That said, I appreciate that what the Minister has brought forward is a move in that direction by allowing for 50% in year one. It is improving year on year. We really need to think about how we increase research and development in the SME and micro sector, especially the former. A lot of what is happening in the multinational sector mirrors the problems that they are not as active in terms of research and development as we should hope for. We need to keep that under review.