Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I join colleagues on both sides of the House in complimenting the Revenue Commissioners, Parliamentary Counsel and the Department of Finance on the preparation of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Bill 2010.

The history of consolidation of taxation measures dates back to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 and Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003. Anyone who deals with VAT knows the intricacies involved. Having to reference back to previous years and so on is an onerous task. I know that practitioners will be delighted when this Value-Added Tax Consolidation Bill 2010 comes into force. The Minister of State can be assured that the Select Committee on Finance and the Public Service will expedite its work on the Bill as there are no contentious issues involved and it is not a Bill to which substantive changes can be made.

I note from briefing that this legislation must be enacted prior to introduction of this year's Finance Bill. It is important that we consolidate taxation measures. In this regard, the Minister of State might consider having the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 further consolidated given the complications arising in terms of the changes in income tax, corporation tax and, in particular, VAT which is extremely complicated because of our ties to the European scene. Many of the changes made during recent years have been as a result of directives from Europe.

I thank everybody involved in bringing this legislation to this Stage. The type of language used is more understandable to the ordinary person and those educated in tax matters. It is time the archaic language previously used was updated and this has been successfully done in this legislation. I congratulate everybody involved in that.

I join the Minister of State in commending the Bill to the House.

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