Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputies for their contribution. I do not for a minute think I am going to change the minds of Deputies Nash or O'Callaghan to get them to withdraw their amendment but I share their views in relation to this. Every business cannot be saved. There will be business failures and that is the nature of businesses. In a previous role, I introduced the small company administrative rescue process, SCARP, to protect businesses that were under a shroud of debt to give them an opportunity to come out, restructure and trade again. Many independent commentators will acknowledge it was a good scheme to be introduced and it helped small businesses that were sustainable to survive into the future.

In this area a number of policy measures were introduced, and rightly so, for anyone on the side of the worker. There was the introduction of the extra bank holiday, the increase in the minimum wage and in statutory sick pay, and now auto-enrolment. That has put pressure on SMEs, in particular, but it was done because we wanted to give better terms and conditions to employees. In acknowledgement of the additional pressures put on SMEs, an intervention was designed. It was felt this was the best way to support the hospitality sector for the reasons I have outlined. Ideally, we could have introduced a different VAT rate. If that was practical, it could have been considered but Deputy Doherty has acknowledged it could not happen. What could happen was we could split away the accommodation sector which, I think everyone can agree, is performing well, generally speaking, and identify the area with the smallest margin and highest element of waste. It was done to protect jobs, particularly in the regions. The companies which will benefit most are SMEs and within that cohort, those which benefit most will be microenterprises, that is, those employing ten or fewer people.

I do not accept that not introducing a sunset clause will tie the hands of future finance Ministers. The tax strategy review papers that are published will indicate how certain taxation measures are performing. It is the option and prerogative of a future finance Minister to change taxation at any subsequent budget. Not putting in the sunset clause gives certainty to the sector at the moment but if it goes off the Richter scale and performs extraordinarily well at some point in the future, any finance Minister can make changes, if that is deemed necessary.

It is about protecting jobs and ensuring we have a good economy into next year and subsequent years so we have the necessary wherewithal and bandwidth to make interventions in other areas, such as indexation and honouring our commitment to abolishing the means test for the carer's allowance, which we made a good inroad into in the first year of a five-year programme this year. Everything cannot be done in year one. Choices have to be made. Regardless of who the Minister of finance is, choices have to be made every year. This is about protecting jobs, particularly in the regions.