Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The objective of the amendment is worthy of support. I can understand that there needs to be some timeframe to prevent people from becoming unemployed in order to avail of this relief. The period may not need to be as long as that about which Deputy Michael McGrath has spoken. It is not €40,000 one is getting; one is exempt only in terms of tax and a portion of the income would be exempt in any case. I hope the measure will allow a number of people who have been self-employed, particularly in the construction sector, to put their tool belts back on and go back working with an upturn in the sector. The problem is that some of those who have been self-employed in the sector may be getting a little work here and there, or may have a week on and a week off; unfortunately, that is the way the construction sector has been in recent years. The period of 12 months' continuous unemployment would mean that they would not be able to avail of the opportunity to set up their own businesses again. A real issue arises that could be examined.

While it might be right and proper in a normal environment to have every measure aligned with the back-to-work enterprise allowance and other measures in the social protection area, we must understand we are in unique circumstances in the State because so many people are unemployed, including a large number in one sector. In excess of 80,000 people are unemployed in the construction sector. I realise the amendment does not concern the construction sector alone, but we need additional measures to try to address the issue. Trying to co-ordinate measures with existing measures without having a massive impact on getting people back into self-employment is not ambitious enough. Anybody I know who is unemployed wants to find a decent job. People thinking about starting their own business think about all of the risks associated with it. Any encouragement we can give them to become the entrepreneurs of the future is welcome.

Each unemployed person represents a cost to the State in the region of €20,000 per annum if secondary benefits are taken into account. When one notes the modest tax revenue, amounting to a couple of thousand euro, that would be forgone as a consequence of the relief and compares it with the €10,000 cost the State would incur in primary and secondary benefits for an individual unemployed for a period of only six months, one realises the reconsideration of the 12 month period, as advocated in the amendment, is justifiable, at least until we actually determine whether this measure can entice enough people to take the risk or leap of faith required to start their own business and become self-employed.

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