Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree.

I welcome this budget. I am happy that my Department will spend €2.3 billion in 2019, which is an increase of 17%. The Government projects which were recently announced will go full speed ahead in all three areas. These include BusConnects, the metro, tourism and sporting projects to which we committed much capital in the past.

Responses to announcements in my portfolio have concentrated mostly on value added tax, VAT, so I will begin by responding on this. The Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Griffin, the Independent Alliance and I fought strongly against the worst aspects of this. It was not helped by the big hotel lobby working very hard. One could not chose anyone less helpful to one's cause than those who have been gouging customers in Dublin hotels recently. They did not help their cause, or that of the bed and breakfast owners or small hoteliers who needed the lower VAT rate to maintain employment and prosperity by opposing the VAT proposals. I regret that they were not levied on their own and that the penalty extended so far down the ladder. That is as it is now, and that is where we are.

While we opposed taxes being increased in the tourism industry, it was not all bad news. We managed to negotiate with the Minister for Finance to allocate an additional €38.5 million to target those in the industry who might suffer from the increase in the VAT rate. We are pleased to have that and it will help the tourism agencies in product development and on other products which will hopefully benefit the industry, which is thriving still and defying gravity in terms of the currency movement in the UK. We negotiated that €38.5 million for the industry, which would not have been provided otherwise. I regret that despite the fact that we fought hard for it, others in this House did not and we should note Fianna Fáil's silence on this.

The Independent Alliance had a good budget. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, negotiated €150 million extra for disabilities, the Minister of State, Deputy John Halligan, had the idea of the gambling tax which will raise another €15 million, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin "Boxer" Moran, ensured that money for flood relief schemes will be made available and that this will continue. That is a great tribute which puts our stamp on the budget. We also negotiated the social welfare Christmas bonuses with the Minister for Finance. I am proud that the home conversion grant will come into being following a trial last year of which we were particularly supportive. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has assured us he will spell out the scheme details at an appropriate time after he has reviewed this and the Abhaile scheme before Christmas. I am also proud that the Minister for Finance included a sentence in the budget about property tax. The Independent Alliance has ambitions about property tax, namely that it shall not hit the vulnerable and that increases should be minimal, if at all, as a result of next year's revaluations. It hurts the vulnerable, older people and people on fixed incomes. I welcome the Minister's agreement to put a section in the speech which acknowledged their difficulties. Finally, I welcome the change in the inheritance tax which was achieved by the Independent Alliance.

I am sorry that I must stop but I must give my ministerial colleague her time.

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