Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

We saw a leaked version of this document on innovation. It makes the valid point that we need to have a cultural shift in the way we think about enterprise in this country. I am not pretending this is a perfectly designed relief, far from it, but it is one that was recommended by the Commission on Taxation.

We need to see something coming from Government on how to create this new culture of enterprise because many professional and skilled people are losing jobs and the likelihood is that most of them will emigrate. Some will go into the black economy and take the nixer route that is well known but one that ultimately undermines the effective operation of an economy. They are facing into trying to start up businesses in a credit-starved environment and, as that report points out, they are in a situation where bankruptcy and the failure of business is regarded as so awful that one cannot get credit again for 12 years after a business failure.

I am not pretending all the answers are encapsulated here but we need a new attitude to establishing businesses and getting them off the ground, and to supporting people who are willing to take a chance. I do not see any evidence of that, other than in regard to the back to work allowance, which was extended this year and which was the only gesture towards the establishment of new business.

I can understand some of the arguments the Minister is making and, if I was on his side of the House, I am sure I would be focused on how revenue could leak away in unintended ways. However, we have to step back from the usual Revenue view of every relief to see how we can create a culture that is supportive of enterprise at a time when we vitally need skilled and trained people in this country to have a go. In Silicon Valley, they say a person has to have failed three times to be worth taking a risk on. We certainly do not support that type of attitude to enterprise, innovation and having a go.

I would imagine the Minister will explain that while he will not support the amendment, he will try to come up with a much more targeted incentive aimed at key sectors which he feels can contribute to growth and can pick up skills we might otherwise lose to the State. While I am not fully optimistic that will be his response, I will not detain the House on this matter as we have had a good ventilation of the issues. However, we will have to come back to this agenda, if not to this amendment.

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