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

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Finance Bill. It is an important Bill, a version of which we see every year giving effect to the financial and tax measures in the budget. With that in mind, I want to speak to some of those tax changes, specifically in respect of the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS, and on some business and workers' rights related matters.

One key measure announced on budget day was the CRSS. In his budget speech, as well as over the following days, the Minister and his Government colleagues outlined how it was designed to assist those businesses whose trade had been significantly impacted upon or temporarily closed as a result of restrictions set out in the Government's living with Covid-19 plan. The details of this scheme are laid down in the Bill. We can see from the finer details as to how the scheme will generally operate when level 3 or higher is in place and will cease when those restrictions are lifted. Will the Minister provide some further details on this matter?

Section 485(1) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 describes business activity with three separate subsections below the definition. Prior to the detail being relayed in the Bill, many suppliers were concerned that they would not be included. They were specifically concerned that they would not be included during level 3 restrictions due to how the Minister articulated the details of this scheme on budget day. Section 485(1) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 states that one example of business activity is:

... where customers of the trade acquire goods or services from that person other than through attending at a business premises, that portion of the trade which relates to transactions effected in that manner shall be deemed to relate to the business premises or, where there is more than one business premises, shall be apportioned between such business premises on a just and reasonable basis.

Will the definitions of business activity not exclude suppliers, cash and carries and so on? Suppliers upstream in the business chain may be drastically affected by the impact of the public health measures on their customers downstream who are affected by levels 3 to 5 restrictions. It is important that they are explicitly included in level 3 through to level 5.

The scheme provides for qualifying businesses to apply to the Revenue Commissioners for a cash payment to assist them and provide targeted support during their time of need. My understanding is that this cash payment is essentially an advance or a loan from the State to the businesses. However, it actually involves lending businesses their own money because the scheme is an advanced credit for trading expenses. Accordingly, it is an advance on the business tax credit scheme. It is their own money. This is not a grant. This is the State fronting the money with Revenue just to make the tax credit available directly in cash. The result is that the CRSS payment will reduce the amount of trading expenses that are deductible in computing the taxable income of a business.

We had the July stimulus package only five months ago. The VAT reduction for tourism and hospitality should have been delivered then, a point now acknowledged by some on the Government benches. We welcome the measure but it should have been done in July. The problem now for businesses is not only that this measure is five months too late but that it is currently of no use to them, while the level 5 restrictions mean that they cannot operate or take advantage of the reduction.

I want to focus on one group of workers who feel totally let down by the Government and who had hoped that, either through the budget or another way, that their situation would have been resolved by now. The workers at Aer Lingus have been locked in a battle with the airline and the Department of Social Protection for the past nine months. We all understand the ongoing impact that Covid-19 has had on the aviation industry and that workers' hours across all airlines have been dramatically reduced. For many workers, this has meant that they are now only working one, two or even three days a week. These reductions are not, however, the source of their anger. Their frustration stems from the failure of the Department of Social Protection to ensure that they receive their entitlement to short-time work support for the months March to August when they were on the temporary wage subsidy scheme.

Aer Lingus has consistently dragged its heels with these workers and has refused to sign necessary forms so that they can access welfare that they absolutely and desperately need. These people have spent their savings. Any savings they had are gone. They are entitled to this social welfare benefit but the company will not fill out the forms, while the Department of Social Protection will not accept the forms without the stamps on them. It is beyond ridiculous at this stage. These are people who pay a lot of tax and work extremely hard. It is not their fault that they cannot go to work. They are being punished as a result of a refusal on the part of the Government and the Department of Social Protection to instruct the company to fill out the forms or instruct the Intreo offices to accept them without the stamp. I am appealing to the Minister to take action on this as a matter of urgency.

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