Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

8 o’clock

I move amendment No. 22:

In page 103, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following:

“Report on betting duty relief 47. The Minister shall, within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the betting duty relief and its impact on the bookmaking industry.”.

The amendment relates to the changes to betting duty relief as introduced in the budget and in this Bill. It is important to recap on the background to this. One year ago, the betting duty doubled from 1% to 2%, which had an impact. Has the Department carried out an assessment on the impact on the independent bookmaker sector in respect of the numbers of outlet that have closed and the number of jobs that have been lost?

The Minister offers de minimisrelief in this legislation. He undertook, as he committed to do last year, a review in the tax strategy group papers of the betting tax duty and of the proposals made by the sector for a gross profits tax. The group reached the conclusion that it was not possible to introduce the tax the sector had proposed, and that it was not possible to differentiate between profits achieved as a result of online betting and profits achieved in the outlets. That proposal was deemed not to be possible. De minimisrelief was outlined, and what the Minister has brought forward in the legislation is a variation of that. It is provided for in section 46. Will the Minister indicate whether the likely impact of this has been assessed? Will it save jobs in the sector? Will it stem the tide of closures of small, independent bookmaker outlets? The maximum relief is €50,000. Even if a firm has two, three, four or five outlets, it is limited to a once-off relief of €50,000. Will the Minister confirm whether this proposal has cleared the hurdle of state aid approval? De minimisrelief was outlined in the tax strategy group papers, and he had indicated that it would get through. Will he confirm that what is proposed in the Bill has been approved and will come into effect on 1 January 2020?

See this speech in context