Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Another 500 civilians will also be hired. The additional allocation for the justice sector in 2018 is €63 million. The rationale for this investment is to continue to invest and develop a modern police force that delivers an exemplary level of service to communities. The Minister for Justice and Equality and I are in agreement that increased spending on gardaí and police staffing will continue to go hand in hand with a commitment to drive reform throughout the organisation. We all have a shared interest in getting to a better place.

Preparing for Brexit

As the impact of Brexit unfolds over the coming years, it is clear there are likely to be permanent changes in our trade patterns. Small and medium businesses will need to innovate and increasingly look to new European and international markets other than the UK. In order to assist small and medium enterprises, SMEs, with this, I am announcing a Brexit loan scheme. Together with my colleagues, the Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I am making a loan scheme of up to €300 million available at competitive rates to SMEs, including food businesses given their unique exposure to the UK market, to help them with their short-term working capital needs. This scheme is supported by the European Investment Bank, the European Commission and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. It will give SMEs time to put in place the necessary changes to help their businesses grow into the future. The Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine will be providing details of this scheme.

Furthermore, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation will have a total budget next year of almost €871 million. This will, among much else, enable the recruitment of over 40 staff across the Department and enterprise agencies to bolster our ability to proactively respond to the challenges and opportunities arising from Brexit.

Supporting Tourism and Enhancing our Transport Network

While there is still a great deal of uncertainty about the outcome of the Brexit process, tourism continues to be a national success story. That said, one clear impact of the UK’s decision has been the continuing weakness in the value of sterling. While I note that prices in Dublin continue to rise, I have said before that VAT policy cannot be decided on the basis of one location only, no matter how big, but in the context of the broader national interest. Accordingly, I have decided not to change the VAT rate on the tourism and services sector in budget 2018.

I am announcing a total allocation of over €2 billion in total funding for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. This includes €112 million for funding to further enhance our tourism offering and market our country abroad. In addition to tourism, there will be an increase of €9.6 million in transport funding that will support increased public transport services and improvements to our road network that will see total current funding in this area rise to €414 million. The capital allocation for this Department will total €7.5 billion for the four year period to 2021 and will allow continued progress on many areas such as the national indoor arena, the Sallins bypass, the Oberstown interchange project and many other projects across the country that will begin construction, assisting commuters, enhancing development and improving our national competitiveness. BusConnects is also a programme of priority investment for public transport, which plans to fundamentally transform our bus system so that journeys by bus will be fast, reliable, punctual, convenient and affordable.

Encouraging Participation in Sport and Culture

Investments in our cultural and sporting life are vital to supporting the vibrancy of our country. As part of the total package to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, budget 2018 will also see a total allocation of €111 million in current and capital spending for sport next year. I am pleased, on behalf of the Government, to signal our strong commitment to Creative Ireland, the five-year legacy programme for Ireland 2016 which places creativity at the centre of public policy. Additional funding to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht of €9 million in current funding and €4 million in capital will allow for key measures to be progressed in 2018.

It will provide more funding next year for the Arts Council, the Irish Film Board, Culture Ireland, the national cultural institutions and the Creative Children initiative, all of which have captured the public imagination. There will also be additional allocations for our built and natural heritage and for Waterways Ireland.

This Government is committed to the implementation of the 20-year strategy for Irish. There will be an increase of €2.5 million in the allocation for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in 2018, with additional funding for the language planning process, including Údarás na Gaeltachta and various training programmes and organisations in Irish. Our national language is a vital part our country.

Supporting Agriculture and Rural Ireland

So, too, is our agriculture industry and the wider rural economy and society. I am pleased to announce an increase in funding of €64 million for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This will bring the total investment in this sector to over €1.5 billion in 2018, which will support Ireland’s largest indigenous industry and strengthen the sector’s ability to meet the challenges of Brexit. The Minister will bring forward a comprehensive package of Brexit response measures for 2018 amounting to over €50 million. The Department will also provide supports for capital investment in the food industry to increase competitiveness and innovation, and additional supports for Bord Bia marketing and promotion activities. In addition to the Brexit loan scheme I announced earlier, I have provided a further €25 million to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide for the development of a further Brexit response loan scheme for the agrifood sector. This will be developed in 2018 in co-operation with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland and others.

To facilitate the intergenerational shift in farm ownership and management, I am maintaining consanguinity stamp duty relief at 1% for inter-family farm transfers for a further three years. The exemption for young trained farmers from stamp duty on agricultural land transactions continues.

I propose to provide for the leasing of agricultural land for solar panels to be classified as qualifying agricultural activity for the purposes of specific capital acquisitions tax and capital gains tax reliefs. This initiative, which is subject to the panels covering no more than 50% of the total farm holding, should support diversification, expand the generation of renewable energy and help tackle climate change.

Providing opportunities for people and communities in all parts of the country to share in economic recovery is crucial and is a priority of this Government. To support this objective, the Taoiseach this year established a new Department of Rural and Community Development. I am increasing the budget for that Department by €19 million on existing programmes. This amounts to a 12% increase year on year to provide the conditions for sustainable rural development and provide local-level supports to support vibrant and sustainable communities.

Protecting Children

Next year, there will be a substantial increase in funding for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. This is to ensure that we adequately resource those who are charged with the protection of our children, while also helping parents with the cost of child care. To ensure that we have the ability to help our most vulnerable children and families, to speak for them when others cannot, the allocation to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, will be increased by over €40 million, bringing its total allocation to just under €754 million. This will support a number of crucial developments, including: the introduction of mandatory reporting under the Children First Act; addressing gaps in existing out-of-hours services; and providing for further investment and development of the family resource centre network. This Government continues its commitment to the development of affordable child care with a focus on children, parents and providers. An additional €20 million allocation in 2018 will support a range of child care measures including, from September 2018, further development of the extended free preschool programme, ensuring entitlement to a full two-year service.

In addition to other measures to provide quality and sustainability in the early years sector, the capitation rate for providers of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, pre-school programme will increase by 7% from September 2018. The measures, introduced in September 2017, for a universal child care payment for those under three years of age and increased rates in targeted child care subvention schemes, will continue to be supported in 2018 in advance of the introduction of the single affordable child care scheme.

Addressing Climate Change

Climate change is the global challenge of our generation and it must be met - for the sake of our children and future generations. This is recognised in A Programme for a Partnership Government and also in the recently published national mitigation plan. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency and I have allocated €36 million to facilitate the expansion of the energy efficiency programmes across the public commercial and residential sectors.

I am also pleased to announce the allocation of €17 million to fund the roll-out of the renewable heat incentive and to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles. In addition to the vehicle registration tax, VRT, relief to a maximum of €5,000 and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, grant of up to €5,000 already in place, to further incentivise the take up of electric vehicles I propose to introduce a 0% rate of benefit-in-kind, BIK, in 2018. This will be introduced for a period of one year to allow time for a comprehensive review of BIK on motor vehicles to inform decisions for the next budget. I will also be bringing forward proposals for discussion in the new year in respect of VRT on leased vehicles to meet the requirements of the recent European Court of Justice, ECJ, judgment.

In line with the recommendations of a review of the accelerated capital allowances scheme for energy efficient equipment being published, I propose to extend the scheme for a further three years, to the end of 2020. In line with the national mitigation plan, I have also asked my officials and the ESRI to carry out a review of carbon tax with a view to bringing forward proposals in budget 2019 around the role of the tax in driving changes to behaviour-----

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