Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm go bhfuil deis agam cúpla focal a rá faoin mBille Airgeadais. Caithfidh mé a rá nach bhfuil an oiread sin ann don ghnáthdhuine. Ba mhaith liom a laghad is atá sa Bhille a thaispeáint. Is féidir liom an lúcháir i measc na hoifigigh sa Roinn Airgeadais, nuair a fuair siad leithscéal gan rud ar bith a thabhairt do dhaoine i mbliana, a shamhlú. Is é sin go díreach a rinne siad. Ar ndóigh, má dhéantar socrú faoin mBreatimeacht, beidh an cúis a bhí acu gan aon rud a thabhairt imithe. Sa chás sin, agus an leithscéal a bhí acu imithe, tá amhras orm go n-úsáidfaidh siad cáinfhaisnéis eile le bheith croíúil leis an bpobal, go mórmhór iad siúd ata i ngannchuid. Ní dóigh liom go bhfeicfimid é sin. Idir an dá linn, tá costas gach rud ag dul suas. Ag an am céanna, níl aon soláthar á dhéanamh dóibh siúd atá ag brath ar ioncam leasa shóisialaigh.

The devil is always in the detail and great illusions of generosity can be created but when we actually examine the effect we see these magnificent gestures are actually not what they appear to be. Section 3 of the Bill increases the value of the home carer credit from €1,500 to €1,600. Of course, what is involved is a tax credit and not money so it does not apply to anybody not in the income tax bracket. However, we will accept that since it is an income tax credit the Government is not trying to help that group of people anyway. Let us look at what is involved and the largesse the Minister has just handed to those in the tax bracket. By definition, the home carer tax credit means people are in a one-income family. For those in this bracket who have a 20% rate of tax it is an extra tax credit of €100 a year.

For someone on a tax rate of 20%, the benefit will be slightly less than €20 a year. That is less than 40 cents a week. What a magnificent gesture.

We find the same sleight of hand for the earned relief. I cannot understand why the same earned relief as is already available to PAYE workers in the amount of €1,650 a year was not extended. The threshold for earned relief was increased from €1,350 to €1,500. That is an increase of €150 per annum in the credit. If one is paying tax at the rate of 20%, it means an extra €30 a year which is 60 cent a week. If one is paying tax at the top rate of 40%, it means an extra €1.20 cent a week. When I was young, there was a saying, that "All that glisters is not gold". This budget, when it was announced, gave an illusion of being gold but when take home pay is increasing by 30 or 40 cent, people will ask if that is all they got.

Another reality of what is being cleverly done, year after year by this Government, is the erosion of the true value of the tax credits. The €1,650 employee credit and personal credit, and twice that for the married credit, has been the same since 2010. Every year, there is an inexorable 2% erosion of that as incomes go up. There is a domino effect whereby those who were not paying any tax are now paying some tax without the Government appearing to raise any rates because the value of money is dropping. Those who were in the 20% rate are now moving into the 40% rate without corresponding relief. The Government is therefore increasing the tax rate inexorably without appearing to do so. In other words, to stand still there would have to be a cost of living increase every year in tax bands and credits, otherwise the Government is collecting more tax. That effect can clearly be seen in the income tax take every year.

I must criticise the Government for not honouring its commitment to eliminate the universal social charge, USC. We have made our tax system incredibly complicated for the ordinary person to work out. People who have to fill out tax forms, want to calculate their tax liability and verify they have worked it out correctly would need a degree in mathematics to do so. I have, from the very beginning, believed that, as the economy grew, we should have eliminated USC systematically from the bottom up. The 0.5% rate that raises €60 from every taxpayer who is earning more than €12,000 probably raises considerable money but it puts people earning €12,000 a year into the tax bracket. I know there are well-to-do people who believe that everybody should pay taxes but everybody does pay taxes. I know nobody who lives in this country who does not pay taxes. Those earning little money pay tax on everything they buy, including excise duties. The only thing such people do not pay is income tax and it is a nonsense to take income tax from those to whom we give social welfare and family income supplement because they cannot afford to pay it. It is about time we got away from this nonsense that some people are exempt from taxes. We know that those on the lowest incomes tend proportionally to pay more indirect taxes than others.

The carbon tax was raised and Fianna Fáil has supported that. That carbon tax was meant to be ring-fenced for reinvesting so that those who would be hit by it disproportionately would find they were compensated in other ways. The Minister made a fuss about giving an extra fuel allowance, which is good for those on fuel allowance, but, as I have pointed out time and again, those who are in houses with poor thermal qualities, the old who are in their houses all day and must heat them all day and those in the Travelling community who live in mobile homes and caravans that are very hard to heat will bear the brunt of this carbon tax and nothing is being done for them to deal with those issues. Trying to get the special heating allowance that used to be available from community welfare offices through the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection requires the filling of an eight-page form since this Government came to power.

The public bus services provided by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to rural Ireland are abysmal. The Minister says he has no responsibility for anything. The lack of a bus system forces people to use motorcars. I would have thought a proportion of the money would have been used to reduce fares so that the fare per kilometre in rural areas would be the same as urban areas. The Government should also have granted money to provide services on the main radial routes, particularly out of towns with large employment in hospitals and third level institutions, until 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock at night instead of cutting off services at 6 o'clock which means people must leave work or their place of study earlier. Nothing was done with the pot of money the Government has suddenly raised to allow people reduce their carbon bill in areas the Government says is very carbon dependent.

There is a provision for food supplements in this Bill whereby a VAT rate of 13.5% is to be introduced. My understanding is that arose from a ruling by the Revenue Commissioners that food supplements are not food and, therefore, should not have been zero-rated for VAT in the past. I also understand that this matter is being challenged in the courts. I further understand that the introduction of a rate of 13.5% will mean, under EU rules, that we cannot go back to a 0% rate. Why did the Government not defer this matter until the courts had given a ruling as to whether food supplements are food or not and were or were not correctly zero-rated for VAT? It seems to me that, for whatever reason, money raising or whatever, the Government wants to positively hit these people with a tax rate of 13.5%. The Government will say it was generous in not applying a tax rate of 23%. My counter to that argument is that the Government could have applied a rate of 9% but there was no need to apply any rate until we get the result of the court case.

The provision should be removed from the Bill and the matter put in abeyance until there is a court decision as to whether it was legally correct that the rate was 0%. If that had been done, I understand that under EU law it could be left at 0%.

The threshold for capital acquisition tax, which is applied where a parent leaves money to an immediate family member, is to be raised from €320,000 to €335,000, an increase of €15,000. While I am sure it will be welcomed by all those inheriting such a sum of money, it is not as large a sum as it appears because the rate is 33% and it concerns what would probably be a once in a lifetime payment. Nevertheless, we have to welcome the increase because with house prices going through the ceiling, more and more people will inherit a little extra money, many of whom will use it for their family members.

Ar ndóigh, má táimid ag caint ar an gcáinaisnéis, caithfidh mé a rá go bhfuil an-díomá orm gur tugadh i bhfad níos mó airgead do na háisíneachtaí forbartha taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht ná mar a tugadh uair amháin eile d'Údarás na Gaeltachta. Is cosúil nach bhfuil meas madadh ag an Rialtas seo ar Údarás na Gaeltachta as an obair a dhéanann sé, agus nach bhfuil aon tuiscint ag an Rialtas ar an tábhacht go mbeidh fostaíocht ar fáil sa Ghaeltacht le go bhfanfaidh na daoine ann le go mairfidh an teanga. Tá sé dall go hiomlán ar seo. Tá mé cinnte go bhfuil mo chomhghleacaí, an tAire Stáit, An Teachta Kyne, ag déanamh a dhícheall, ach níl sé sách maith. Ní léir go bhfuil aon spéis ag an Aire Cultúir, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta, An Teachta Madigan sa scéal - dúbh, bán ná riabhach - ná tuiscint aici ar an tábhacht a bhaineann leis an nGaeilge agus leis an nGaeltacht. Ag am go bhfuil bród ag muintir na hÉireann i bhfad i gcéin astu féin, as a mhuintir agus as an áit ar as iad, is léir nach bhfuil an bród céanna ag an Rialtas. Tharla go raibh mé i Meiriceá faoi dhó i mbliana. Bhí mé le gairid i Montana, áit a bhfuil cúrsaí Gaeilge ar bun istigh san ollscoil ansin, agus tá an-spéis ag daoine inti - agus lucht Éireannach sa scéal - agus iad ag foghlaim na Gaeilge agus ag teacht ar ais go hÉireann. Arís ar ais, ainneoin an méid dea-thoil a chothaíonn sé sin ar fud an domhain d'Éirinn istigh i cuid de na hollscoileanna is iomráití ar domhan agus ainneoin an méid caint a dhéantar ar an diaspora ar fud an domhain, ní léir gur fiú leis an Rialtas forbairt a dhéanamh ar an gcomhcheangal seo.

It has always amazed me how little we spend on our indigenous culture. While I am interested in all cultures and believe that opera, art and forms of cultural expression should be promoted, we should always keep in mind that one culture - Irish culture - is unique to this island. We may have spread it throughout the world but we remain its wellspring. Irish dancing, Irish music and the Irish language are great identifiers for us. No Minister has ever been sent abroad to engender more business for Ireland, not least on an Enterprise Ireland mission, and not used these unique identifiers to get our message across. Every time a Minister does the hard sell of goods abroad, he or she will use Irish music, dance and imagery, but still we refuse to make the investment in one of the greatest natural resources we have, namely, our culture. I do not know whether it is because it is intangible, but there cannot be a Minister in the Government who has gone abroad without saying to himself or herself that he or she had never realised the economic potential of culture with which to do business.

The investment in the Irish language in the budget was abysmal. There was an additional €1 million in capital spending for Údarás na Gaeltachta. When the additional administrative costs are removed, there is virtually nothing for the Irish language, but still we boast that we promote our heritage. It might not seem to be a matter for the Finance Bill, and it is not, given that I can find no reference to anything cultural therein. It is shocking.

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