Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille. I welcome many aspects of this Bill. I commend the Minister on the work he has put into the Bill and also on his work on the reform of corporation tax. Securing our best interests as a country took enormous personal commitment on his part.

I welcome the provisions to assist those who are working remotely. However, they could go much further. We need to align them with a greater ambition within the corporate sector in Ireland but also within the Government generally for real remote working as opposed to ticking boxes which is occurring at the moment. Many workers working for Government and State bodies as well as for private enterprise are finding that they are being drawn back into their offices here in Dublin. They are being encouraged to come back in despite of some of the supports that are available within the Bill.

The Covid pandemic has given us some good sides, although not many. One of those good sides was showing us that remote working works. If we are serious about remote working as a driver of regional growth and development, the Government as an employer needs to send the message that it will do everything it can to facilitate its employees and also the employees of semi-State organisations, companies in which the Government has a share, to work sustainably within their communities.

I acknowledge the various capital investments that have gone into remote working hubs, such as the fantastic initiative that Údarás na Gaeltachta has through its Gteic programme and the various investments through the rural development fund but they need to be accompanied by a message from the Government that it is serious about remote working and it will encourage its workers to avail of it. Decentralisation was a major success but remote working has taken over that. It has been demonstrated that it can be done and space is available in rural communities for it.

There is a small and limited provision in the Finance Bill for the Western Development Commission, which is welcome. It is time for us to invest in the Western Development Commission and give it a serious remit. Many years ago, before there was talk of COP26 in Glasgow or wind energy, the Western Development Commission developed policy papers around community-led wind energy. I am sure the Leas-Cheann Comhairle is familiar with the really good policy papers it developed around the arts in Galway and communities around the west. There is a research function and a function through the Western Investment Fund and the Western Development Commission. With proper and ambitious support from the Government, much more could be done in this regard.

There is a so-called Levelling Up initiative from the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. Everything we say about him must have the word "apparently" in front of it and apparently this initiative is about putting a large amount of money into northern England and its resources. We must do that here and a proper investment in the Western Development Commission, working collectively with various local authorities and development agencies across the west, could achieve that aim.

I welcome the various incentives within the Finance Bill relating to health and encouraging people towards health screening. This has not got much coverage but it is incredibly important and we must bring it to people's attention, particularly in a post-Covid context.

The Bill is clearly planned for current conditions and aligned with the budget and national development plan. These initiatives can be transformative if they are delivered. They must be delivered though.

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