Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I find it strange. What the Taoiseach said has not fully allayed my fears. He talked about centres of excellence. I heard Deputy Naughten talk about Ireland West Airport. I have always wished our regional airports well. They should try to encourage as much business as possible.

To avail of the tax incentive the Taoiseach is talking about here, the projects that would need to be built at Ireland West Airport would have to be on a larger scale than the €5 million that is being discussed. It is a different ball game. We are talking about a different type of company. In the main, one- or two-bay hangars are being built in regional airports. There are 30 or 40 regional airports and aerodromes scattered throughout the country. There is nothing in this legislation to stop a private owner who has the wealth behind him from buying up an airport or just building one of these facilities to maintain and service his own Gulfstream jet or those of other wealthy people. Obviously, he would have to get planning permission.

There was a long and quite good tradition of specialist careers in aircraft maintenance and dismantling in Dublin Airport, through TEAM Aer Lingus, which was allowed to be amalgamated into SR Technics. The Government of the time then allowed that to collapse and did not do enough to protect it, despite offers from some of the companies that used that facility to maintain it. I am not going to go back over that, but there is a tradition there. The problem was that most workers in that industry had highly specialised skills which were not interchangeable. Unless they continued working in the field, they were excluded from continuing to work thereafter. Some had to emigrate to try to keep their skills valid as there was only one type of plane they were legally allowed to work on.

It is not as easy as just building one-, two- or three-bay hangars. Depending on what fits into the hangar, each plane brings its own speciality and licensing regime for those who would maintain it. If it is normal servicing - turning the plane around, looking after it and hosing it down - that can be done at any airport. According to the notes I have, an individual can benefit from a write-down of up to €1.25 million. Anyone investing that type of money is only building a shed to maintain his or her own aircraft. A company can benefit up to €5 million. For regional airports such as Cork or Ireland West, we are talking about a much larger scale. There would be a need to attract major business and not just small aircraft.

This is nothing but a tax relief or avoidance scheme that will attract the wrong element. The Taoiseach described whom he expects will benefit, but people have previously availed of tax schemes such as this to the detriment of the Irish taxpayer. Tax relief is tax foregone. There is a negative side to it. If the Government gives €5 million in relief to a company, there is €5 million less in the Government's coffers which could be spent on other more pressing concerns.

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