Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

Deputy Tom Hayes has been detained and I speak for the duration of the period in this timeslot.

I commend Deputies Hogan and Varadkar on bringing forward this motion. Government charges are making Irish business uncompetitive. I concur with what Deputy Coveney said. In my town of Ennis businesses and shops on the main street have closed and have not been replaced. Jobs have been lost and the Government has sat idly by and not offered them any hope or respite. This motion offers some hope to those business people by proposing to take some pressure off them in terms of reducing the costs the Government places on them.

The National Competitiveness Council has reported that non-pay costs compare poorly with other countries. Ministers during the past 12 months have constantly used the excuse that we are economic victims as a small export-driven economy and that international forces are to blame for our predicament. If this is so, those same Ministers must now acknowledge that the converse of this argument must now apply. It is critical that our cost base as an export-driven nation be addressed. It is not good enough nor sustainable for the Government to sit idly by allowing the business sector to deal with competitiveness issues while allowing costs under its control to escalate. Where is the "pulling on the green jersey together" approach when we see, despite general deflation in the economy, that the annual inflation rate in State services is expected to average 13.2% this year? Price increases have been applied across a range of public administered services, including increases in health insurance premiums of 19.4% year-on-year, in taxi fares of 8.2%, in rail fares of 13.7% and in bus fares of 13%.

Irish businesses, those that have survived, have performed admirably in an absolutely horrendous environment over the past 12 months despite the banking crisis, the recession and most of all the Government which, in the first instance, has done nothing to stimulate any type of economic activity and which, more important, presided over and orchestrated this 13.2% rise in the cost of State services.

Has the Government issued policy directions to its regulators and agencies to ensure that national economic and competitiveness objectives are prioritised in all regulatory decisions as recommended by the National Competitiveness Council in June of this year? Why had Ireland the second most expensive industrial electricity prices in the euro zone - 34% above the average - at the end of last year? Electricity prices have increased by 70% over this decade.

It is interesting to look back at the Office of the Financial Regulator and its snoozing on the job. Is it not time that all of the other regulatory officers were brought under the microscope and evaluated as to how they are doing their job? Does the manner in which they do their job reflect the consumer who they supposedly represent or does it reflect the interests of the industry they police?

Like many Deputies, I received correspondence from chambers of commerce in my constituency. In County Clare, commercial rates have increased cumulatively by 53.7% since 2001. Last year rates were increased by 3.8%. Water rates have increased by 43% since 2008.

There has been a water boil notice in the town of Ennis, County Clare for the past four years. People are advised not to drink the water without boiling it. Visitors, immunocompromised persons and infants cannot drink the water. The businesses in the town of Ennis must pay water rates. There is no respite. The Government has been asked repeatedly by the local authority, Ennis Town Council, to come up with the goods promised to pay for an interim treatment plant but it will not do so. This forces Ennis Town Council to pass that charge on to the businesses of Ennis. This is not right. It is not right in 2009 that the local authority cannot offer its consumers a fresh clean water supply. What it can do, however, is pass the buck on to businesses and ask them to carry the can even more. This is pressuring businesspeople and putting them out of business. Jobs are being lost and they are not being replaced. It is not right that the Government would sit idly by and fail to address the matter. I would appeal to the Government to address this matter and come up with the money it promised four years ago to pay for the interim treatment plant.

Development contributions towards infrastructure have dried up in effect over the past number of years. The Government simply must square the circle of providing better public service for less money; this can only be achieved by overdue reform of the public service. We, in Fine Gael, have been advocating that for many years. Fianna Fáil has been in government for 12 years in a row and has done nothing in this regard, but the day has come when it must address that. We, in Fine Gael, will keep the pressure on Government to do that.

Companies are struggling to survive. It has become obvious that banks are reacting to deteriorating business trends by restricting flexibility on overdraft limits. There is a fine balance between the sustainability of Irish business and its contribution to the financing of the Irish State.

In the context of local authorities now preparing their Estimates for 2010, the Minister for Finance would do well to revisit his decision of last year to increase the VAT rate and the consequential impact that such decision had on Revenue returns over the past 12 months. The Government has already admitted that the decision to increase VAT was wrong, but it did nothing to address it. It simply must reduce VAT in the forthcoming budget in order to reduce prices to business and consumers alike and thereby stimulate production and consumer demand.

The travel tax introduced by Government in last year's budget must also go. The Government's tourism advisory body recently called for the tax to be abolished. Ryanair and Aer Lingus speak with one voice on this, and it is not often that they agree. They have stated forcefully that they want this travel tax scrapped. There is a consensus among Opposition Deputies, airlines and those working on the ground. Why is the Government not listening to this? The Government can see before its very eyes that airlines are pulling routes and aircraft from all of the airports throughout Ireland.

In my constituency of Clare, Shannon Airport is being hit really badly. The average cost of a Ryanair flight out of Shannon in the winter months is €10. The €10 travel tax being imposed by the Government is crippling the airport. The impact of this travel tax is felt by hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and shops right across the constituency, from Loop Head in west Clare to Whitegate in east Clare and from Ballyvaughan in north Clare to Killaloe in south Clare. The reaction of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, or the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is not to bother, to let them struggle away and to let jobs be lost. It is just not good enough because County Clare, like many counties, depends to a significant degree on tourism and a travel tax is detrimental. Other countries such as Holland and Belgium have axed this tax. We must do so. I again call on Government this evening to get rid of the travel tax.

Ireland needs to regain competitiveness. The SME sector is vital to the economy. Governments charges are running loose and strangling the SME sector. I appeal to all Deputies, including the Government Deputies, to support my party's motion this evening to freeze Government charges until 2012.

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