John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to support the Bill and am glad to have the opportunity to make a few points about it. I agree with the point made by Deputy Walsh in respect of the fuel rebate announced on budget day for hauliers and which, under the provisions of the Finance Bill, will be extended to bus tour operators as well. This certainly is a positive move for these two sectors and for hauliers in particular, who have been under severe pressure in recent years owing to the increasing costs of fuel.

Even over the past few weeks, fuel prices have begun to creep up again following a few months of decreases. There does not seem to be a satisfactory reason for the increase. The exchange rate, which was cited for so long as the reason fuel prices edged upwards over recent years, has not been an issue, particularly, in the past few weeks. The Government did not increase excise duty on fuel in the budget but the Minister announced tax relief on fuel for hauliers and has now made a similar provision for bus tour operators in the Bill. They will also be eligible for a rebate and I welcome his decision to include them.

I join Deputy Heydon in welcoming the measures and initiatives in the budget and the legislation aimed at promoting growth in the SME sector, which will be essential to the economic recovery of the country. I also welcome the tax changes in the agriculture sector, particularly those relating to farm consolidation and farm partnerships, which have been sought for many years and which make eminent sense. I recently spoke to a dairy farmer in Kilkenny in my constituency who wishes to expand production. He comes from a part of the country where farms are split up. He only has an 80 acre farm, which is not large, but it is in 14 different parts, which makes it difficult for him to expand but the measures contained in the legislation will mean he will be in a position, with some of his neighbours, to swap parcels of land without facing punitive taxes for doing so. This will improve his productivity and that of his neighbours and it makes sense for the economy, as the overall tax take will improve. I welcome the fact the Minister was in a position to take these suggestions on board.

I ask him to take another suggestion on board. He flagged well in advance that mortgage interest relief for first-time buyers would cease on 31 December 2012. I have been presented with a number of scenarios in my constituency where people building their own homes have drawn down part of their mortgage but construction is not complete yet. They are concerned that they will find themselves ineligible for the relief despite the fact that they started to draw down their mortgage before the deadline had elapsed. I hope the Minister will table the necessary amendments on Committee Stage to ensure this small number of people dispersed across the country who are trying to build their own homes are not disadvantaged. This may have happened because of reasons outside of their control relating to the planning process and difficulties getting construction under way. However, they had begun work before the turn of the year and I hope the Minister will address this.

I listened to most of the debate last night but I missed some of the contributions this morning. It was interesting to hear the historical discussion of budgets and elections in the 1970s with 1977, in particular, mentioned by people on both sides of the House. I was not born then and I can only refer to the comments and the coverage in the media and elsewhere of what happened then. However, I was alive and well and a Member of the other House for nine years between 2002 and 2011 and I had the privilege of being the finance spokesperson for Fine Gael for most of that time when the former Ministers for Finance, McCreevy and Cowen, were in office. I witnessed the decisions made by them to ramp up tax reliefs and to place so much emphasis on taxation revenue from property which could not be sustained into the future. This was pointed out to them, despite what some commentators say, on numerous occasions, even by members of their own Governments and certainly by Opposition Member but they refused to take any heed of the difficulties that might arise.

We have had an historic week in the House with the Taoiseach making an appropriate apology to the victims of the Magdalen laundries. The previous week, one of the most scandalously politicised motions was tabled by the Fianna Fáil Party, as it tried to make a political football out of that issue. However, its members have never tabled a motion to apologise for wrecking the economy and for ensuring thousands of young people are out of work and thousands more have had to leave the country to live far away from home hoping that at some stage the economy will recover and they will be able to return. Perhaps they might use their Private Members' time in the near future to apologise for their efforts in wrecking the economy and the futures of so many young people. They have apologised outside the House but it is about time they took the opportunity as soon as possible in the House to apologise for their role in the destruction of our country's economy.

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