Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and thank Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan for tabling it. It is important to have such a debate not just about the economy, but society, which is about people, families and communities. One must look at the context of the recession we have had for the past three years. Technically, we are in recovery stage currently but the primary goal when the Government came to power was to save the State. Budgets 2012, 2013 and 2014 were about doing what the troika had laid out for us in terms of closing the gap between what we spend and what we take in through taxation. That is a challenge. It is not an easy task for any of us and involved many difficult measures. The challenge was to increase charges and taxes or to cut services. We had to try to balance those options.

It is important to recognise that social welfare is a safety net on which many people will call during their lives. It is an important element of society that must be factored into overall Government spending. Its purpose is to support people in need. In the context of the troika, if we had not played by its rules we would not have been given money to spend on social services in recent years.

The Economic Management Council has been dealing with the economy for the past three years and now the debate is moving on to other issues such as the living wage. Thelow pay commission is under the auspices of the Minister of State, Deputy Nash. In this Government's first budget we reversed the decision of the previous Government and we increased the minimum wage. We removed payment of the universal social charge for 300,000 people in that first budget. In budget 2015 we continued that policy by removing another 100,000 people from the universal social charge. We have cut the lower rate of the universal social charge and we increased the threshold at which people must pay the charge at the lower rate.

As well as saving the economy the focus for the past three years has been on job creation and implementing initiatives to help deliver jobs. The 12.5% corporation tax rate has provided certainty to a very important sector of society, in particular, in my constituency in Galway it has encouraged job creation and job retention and investment. The 9% VAT rate is focused on incentivising the hospitality sector which provides full-time and temporary jobs at lower rates of pay. The jobs action plan provides specific targeted measures across all sectors of the economy and Departments. The focus has been on jobs and latterly on cutting taxes. We began that process in the last budget and we need to continue cutting taxes for those who are working. In this context the back to work dividend initiative is excellent. It may be helpful to those who could not afford to take up employment in that this initiative gives them an incentive to take up employment where possible.

I support the Government amendment with regard to the construction sector and the housing strategy. Badly needed housing stock is to be provided along with construction jobs. I commend Deputy O'Sullivan for tabling the motion and I am happy to support the Government amendment.

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