Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the Finance Bill. Budget 2021 is designed to protect the lives and livelihoods of our people and to help the most vulnerable in these uncertain times by investing now in public services and infrastructure for the future well-being of our country. In my limited time, I will focus on a number of areas, including Shannon Airport, tourism and the opportunities presented through remote working.

The €10 million package to assist Cork and Shannon airports is a welcome aspect of the budget. When the €5 million earmarked for Shannon is coupled with the €6.1 million allocated earlier this year, it amounts to €11.1 million for capital investment in the airport, which would otherwise have to be covered using Shannon Group's own resources. We need to build on that progress by ensuring the Government now takes vital steps to include Shannon in the regional airports programme, thus providing operational and capital funding to the key economic driver in the mid-west region. Without the vital global connectivity delivered through Shannon, many of the FDI companies in the mid-west simply would not have located in the region.

Last year, I visited Jaguar Land Rover with the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe. The facility does cutting-edge research on driverless and electric vehicles. It is located in the Shannon industrial zone. It is just one of many leading companies located in Shannon. There are 10,000 people employed in the industrial estate and 80 aviation companies located there. There are also aircraft leasing, maintenance, repair and overhaul companies in Shannon. It is my strong belief that the Government needs to step in to provide supports directly to airlines to ensure that strategic routes, such as those to Heathrow, New York and Boston, are underpinned by Government support to provide vital global connectivity. A key principle in the forthcoming national economic plan must be to realise the potential of all our island. Due recognition must be given to the mid-west region and Shannon Airport as a catalyst for economic development. With Brexit looming, there is an added need to provide the financial supports necessary for both capital and operational expenditure, along with the finances necessary to facilitate the reintroduction of the strategic routes I have mentioned.

The tourism sector has suffered greatly as a result of the pandemic. Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, tourism across County Clare supported 12,000 jobs and generated €266 million in revenue annually for the local economy. I welcomed the reduction in the VAT rate and the extension of the rates waiver scheme. As part of the recovery strategy after the last recession, the Government introduced several innovative schemes and ideas, including the Wild Atlantic Way and the Gathering. We need new ideas of this kind. I call on the Government to organise a new-ideas forum in that regard. It might be possible to have transition year students come up with suggestions through Fáilte Ireland.

Remote working is the new norm. The nature of office-based work has changed dramatically during the course of the pandemic. With that in mind, I believe we need to encourage businesses and employees with tax incentives, allowances and grants. We also need to accelerate urgently the national broadband plan while creating a necklace of community digital hubs to allow people easy access to the digital world, thereby breathing life back into rural towns and villages. I acknowledge the funding provided in budget 2021 to start this process. I also welcome the progress on formulating a national remote-working policy, for which I pushed in my time as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Rural and Community Development.

If we as a nation were to embrace remote working in a co-ordinated way, it would have many positive aspects. It would lead to a better work-life balance, cut out the need to commute, which would be good for the environment, and free up our time so that we could spend it with our families and give back to our communities.

I look forward to the Minister of State's proposals to my proposals.

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