Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The Government's counter-motion includes a reference to reducing the burden of regulation on business. I acknowledge that the Government is making some effort in this regard but, at the same time, it is taking other actions to increase it. We are given a mythical target of 25%, but this cannot be achieved if one does not know what is the baseline. Given that there has been no analysis of the baseline cost of regulation, how does the Government expect to quantify a reduction of 25% when it cannot quantify 100%? That is akin to proposing to reduce one's weight by 25% without ever weighing oneself and to extrapolate that one has lost weight simply because one has eaten fewer buns. That is how the Government is working out its targets in this regard.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, for responding to the contents of the motion in his reply. The Tánaiste's reply, on the other hand, was merely the single transferable speech on enterprise, trade and employment. I understand the Forfás study to which the Minister of State referred indicates that the cost of doing business in the Republic is between 5% and 7.5% higher than it is in the North. I look forward to reading that report because the accuracy of this statistic seems highly doubtful and contrary to common sense. Taking into account higher labour costs, employer's PSRI, rates, utility costs and so on, one can only conclude that the differential must be far higher, probably close to 20%. The higher VAT rate is an additional factor.

The Minister of State referred to the report of the consumer strategy group. Two years after that report was delivered, only nine of its 27 recommendations have been implemented. The Minister of State also referred to the reports of the Competition Authority. I welcome the undertaking that there will be a response from the Government to future reports of the authority. However, why has there been no response to the reports already published? Is it necessary for the authority to publish another report on opticians' or dentists' charges before there can be a Government response?

There is no doubt that inflation is decreasing. However, incomes are stagnant and take home pay is decreasing because of tax increases. Most people will take home less money in six months' time than they do now. For that reason, value for money and consumer issues are even more important than they were in the past. That is why it is important that falling inflation, or potentially even deflation, should not be an excuse to get away with increases in VAT, Government charges and prices levied by utilities. We should use the opportunity of the recession to make our economy more competitive by bringing those costs down. That is the reason Fine Gael tabled this motion. By reducing VAT, insisting the regulatory system is reformed so there is a fair way of setting costs and by reducing and freezing the cost of business we can become competitive again. That is the approach we will need if the economy is to grow again when the recession ends in 2010 or 2011. On that basis, I commend the motion to the House.

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