Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I begin, I note the Minister of State's concern that the DART should be extend to the counties around Dublin. It is important to point out that the DART does not even go the edge of County Dublin. It stops at Malahide, although the bridges were lifted to facilitate its extension to Balbriggan a long time ago. I hope that particular extension will also form part of the Government's plans for the service.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on budget 2021. Many workers and businesses eagerly awaited yesterday's announcement to see whether it would stand up to the challenges of the day. The litmus test from a jobs and business perspectives was whether the budget would give certainty to workers, SMEs and microbusinesses. Unfortunately, as with the July stimulus only four months ago, budget 2021 represents another missed opportunity for the Government to do more to support businesses and protect jobs.

The reduction in VAT from 13.5% to 9% for the tourism and hospitality sector is welcome. Sinn Féin called for that change to be made in our July stimulus proposals, when it would have been quite useful and beneficial for many businesses, but we were ignored by the Government. The problem for businesses now is not only that the measure is four months too late but it is of no use to them because level 3 restrictions mean they cannot take advantage of the reduction. We know how much the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, likes to claim credit for Teachta Doherty's work on insurance reform but it is an awful pity that it took the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, until yesterday to follow our lead on a VAT reduction for a struggling sector.

Unfortunately, the Government did not heed Sinn Féin's advice on investing in the tourism and hospitality sector by reforming the stay and spend scheme. We proposed at the time that a voucher scheme should replace the tax-back system, with every adult and child to be provided with a voucher worth €200 and €100, respectively, to be spent in hotels and restaurants across the State. It was aimed at people with children who might want to take them out for an ice cream or into town to visit a museum. It would have been of tremendous value and the proposal was welcomed by many businesses and, more important, many workers in the tourism and hospitality sector. When, as we hope, the pubs and restaurants move out of level 3 in a few weeks, they will need all the custom they can get during these chronically difficult times. Changing the stay and spend scheme to a voucher scheme should have been prioritised yesterday.

The Government clearly did not listen to the business community's call for help in reducing non-payroll expenses for 2021. A key proposal for reducing such expenses next year was a commercial rates waiver. The Government, however, has decided to waive the rates only until the end of this quarter, as if the Covid-19 pandemic will suddenly and miraculously end on 1 January 2021. The rates waiver should have been extended until next June, at the very minimum, to offer greater certainty for businesses as they look ahead to the new year.

I would like to focus on the Covid restrictions support scheme. Is this scheme, as it appears to be laid out in the budget 2021 tax policy changes document, an advance tax credit scheme, which means businesses would be left at a loss for tax credits in the future? Some clarity in this regard would be most welcome for the business sector. According to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in his speech, the scheme will apply to business premises where the Government restrictions directly prohibit or restrict access by customers. Will it preclude suppliers upstream in the business chain, which may be drastically affected by the impact on their downstream customers of level 3 to level 5 public health measures? If the scheme is in fact an advance tax credit scheme, why was consideration not instead given to a grant aid measure? Grants give certainty because they are not loans or future debt and they allow businesses the certainty to plan and move forward. The reason countries like Germany focused on grant aid for their businesses is that it works and it gives much-needed certainty.

In the run-up to the budget, I warned that the real risk was not that we might do too much but that we would do too little. Unfortunately, the Government has succumbed to that risk and the suite of measures announced for enterprise, trade and employment have fallen far short of what those sectors need. I conclude by pointing out a vote that took place last night but which many people may not have noticed. The opposition of this Government to enhancing workers' rights continued with that vote against a Sinn Féin Bill to make trade union recognition a legal right. The Government is only a little over 100 days old but already the die has been cast in terms of its attitude to workers' rights. Budget 2021 showed a Government that has not listened to or addressed the needs of business and its vote against the Trade Union Representation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2018 showed it has no interest in levelling the playing field between employers and employees by legally guaranteeing trade union recognition and the right of workers to collectively bargain. We know the colour of the Government and, by its budget, we know whose side it is on.

See this speech in context