Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the publication of the Finance Bill and the chance to speak on it briefly in the House. The Bill, which provides a framework for the budget produced in December, has a number of very important measures, namely, a budget which will provide €1 billion and offers activation for employment during 2010, including a €20 million fund for activation measures specifically targeted at people aged under 35.

I welcome the commitment in the Finance Bill to framing our legislation to encourage sharia finance to this country. We have an amazingly good standing as a country within the Muslim community, particularly in the Middle East. Last year, I had the pleasure of travelling with people from the College of Surgeons to see some of their work in Bahrain. Their work and the work of our medical community generally in the Middle East, as in other countries, will give us a great platform from which to exploit this source of finance, and to use our good standing and geographical location as a natural base for that finance. The commitment in the Finance Bill to introducing those measures is welcome and should be exploited.

With regard to the new taxes proposed in the Finance Bill, I am intrigued by the level of discussion on the increase in VAT on bin charges. As someone who lives in a county where there is no choice and where there has been no local authority involvement in bin collection for some time, I have had to pay VAT on bin charges for the past five years. As far as those of us who pay those charges are concerned, this proposal levels the pitch in the interest of those who have no choice in the matter.

I endorse the comment made by Deputy O'Donnell - I know he will repeat this on Committee Stage - on the provisions in the Bill to attract further talent from the multinational sector. He is correct with regard to his remarks on small businesses but we must realise the engine of our economy comes currently from the multinational sector and the work it is doing, particularly in the area of research and development. The more we encourage those involved in this sector to locate their human talent and physical operations here, the better our chance of exploiting that human talent for our small business sector.

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