Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the economic statements. I welcome the radical change in the budgetary process that has been brought about by Fine Gael. It is good to see that we have moved away from a disconnected annual event where we have seen a rabbit pulled out of the hat and policies being announced on the day without being stress-tested robustly. Fine Gael has adopted a different approach as recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. If one looks at the process for the budget, there are spring and summer economic statements which set out the parameters of the budget, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, which is an independent commentator on Ireland's fiscal position, the National Economic Dialogue, which engages in debate with sectoral interests, and the Committee on Budgetary Oversight. These are key safeguards that bring the budget to a more holistic approach where people can have their views and engage with the Minister, and key actors of the State can be brought in and have their views heard.

I also welcome, with regard to the process that the Minister is embarking on, the establishment of the rainy day fund which will mitigate the harshness of future shocks to our economy. It is important that we have money to put into the economy at a time when some part of the economy falls or contracts. If one looks at the last years, when we hit the financial crisis of 2008, we had broken the golden rule and we were borrowing for current expenditure. We had huge debt levels and we had no money to inject into the economy. If we establish this rainy day fund, that will be a key tool to invest money into the economy. If we reduce our debt, it will leave us less vulnerable to the markets.

In 2008, some 3.8% of all revenue was used to service the national debt. Now the debt is around €206 billion. It is €40,000 for every man, woman and child and around 15% of all taxation income is used to service it. That is a key place where the Irish economy is exposed and the Government has to be careful with it. We are now in the 23rd consecutive quarter of employment expansion in this country. The labour force is now at a record level of 2.24 million. We are trying to get to a position by 2021 where 10% of all revenue will be going into capital projects, which is well above the EU average. We have a lost decade to make up for. There was a huge problem with the lack of investment in our infrastructure and it is critical that we do that.

I welcome that the Minister has put on record that he will not adopt spending or taxation measures that would result in a deficit larger than 0.1%. This is important for the economy because we need to ensure that we mitigate against any risks at that level. When we look back, our economy at one stage in 2011, had a deficit of €22 billion. We were spending 50% more than we were taking in but we have turned a huge corner in that regard. Much has been made of our corporation tax receipts and Ireland being labelled as a tax haven. I am not aware of what metric people use to determine that. They seem to pick various different reports, yet the OECD ranks Ireland as the most transparent country for corporate taxation policy and exchange of information therein.

I noted comments made by the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners in a recent article in The Sunday Business Postabout the top ten companies that pay 39% of our corporation tax. He made a key point, that the key characters that make up that top ten change year on year. In 2013, the top ten took in 36% of our tax take and in 2017, that same top ten were under 25%. It is clear that companies travel in and out of that top ten, which gives some level of hope that it will not collapse. It is important that we monitor that because that is a key risk for our economy and we have to ensure that it is managed appropriately. It is important that the double Irish was ended with the measures taken by this Government to tackle tax evasion, where from January 2015, all companies incorporated in Ireland are now tax resident. The key thing about this country is that when it is noticed or becomes clear that there is an issue with our tax code, it acts promptly. People need to be very careful when throwing loose terminology or loose comments around relating to Ireland's standing internationally. They are putting our country's reputation in jeopardy. As the saying goes, if one gets a name for getting up early in the morning, one can stay in bed all day.

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