Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is another constructive suggestion from the Deputy. We evaluated what opportunities there were for supporting local spend and supporting activity in local shops which, as the Deputy stated, have had a very, very difficult year this year. It was in recognition of the challenges retailers faced that the Government in the July jobs plan lowered the standard rate of VAT. As the Deputy will be aware, that was aimed at trying to give small and medium-sized retailers additional profitability and additional support if needed to continue to have the chance to stay open or reopen and keep on their current employees. The reason I ultimately did not go with the additional tax support for the voucher to which the Deputy referred is that I cannot make that conditional on the voucher being spent in Irish-owned retail businesses below a certain scale. If one brings in a voucher such as that, it would be for use in all retailers, regardless of how they are owned. As such, there is every possibility that a significant amount of the money would then not be used in the way for which the Deputy is advocating.

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