Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House today. I was listening to this debate upstairs before I came down to the Chamber. Over the past few weeks, post budget, there has been a lot of commentary in respect of the decisions that were taken in advance of this Bill. I ask Members to think back 12 or even 24 months and consider the position we were in and the uncertainty presented by Covid. Pre pandemic, we were concerned at what might be happen post Covid. It exemplifies the position of the Government and the decisions that have been taken over the past few years and how difficult they were for taxpayers, for businesses, for employees and for the country. In these debates, we sometimes lose sight of that. To be fair to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, and to the Minister for Finance, the budget presented a number of weeks ago surpassed many people's expectations, if we take into account the past 24 months of Covid and the pandemic.

I will just raise a couple of issues that are close to my heart. The VAT exemption on defibrillators, which will come into effect from 1 January 2023, is an issue on which I campaigned for a long time, even before I came to Dáil Éireann. I lost count of the number of motions I put down at various county council meetings over the years on this matter. I welcome this development. I am aware that a number of community and sporting groups across the State will welcome this initiative.

I must also mention the temporary business energy support scheme. I have listened to the debates on this, and for certain people this scheme will not go far enough. I have listened to those people suggest that it is not going to go far enough, but then they paused and did not progress on to what they would do. While the temporary business energy support scheme might not be enough, and particularly for larger businesses or for larger consumers of energy, I still believe it is an initiative to be welcomed. Once it is up and running it will give some kind of certainty to businesses and give them some clarity as to what they can expect in Government support.

The third issue I wish to mention is the benefit-in-kind. The Minister will be aware that I have been beating the drum about this for a number of weeks now. I am like a broken record. For me, this benefit-in-kind initiative, albeit legislated in the Finance Act 2019, comes down to an issue of timing. When people are facing increasing costs as regards energy and travelling to and from work, I am not sure that early 2023 is the time to be putting it in place. I hope this will be reviewed again in the new year. I will make that call again.

I must also mention the defective concrete products levy. Again, this is an initiative that I had spoken out against over the past number of weeks. I welcome the compromises that have been reached, and I welcome that the levy will be reduced from 10% to 5%. I also welcome the various exemptions that are being considered. Ultimately, however, this is again about timing. We are facing a budgetary surplus this year. I ask the Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to question the timing of this measure. A recent meeting of backbenchers of my party agreed that we understand and agree with the principle behind it. We are not arguing against that, but again it comes down to the crucial aspect of timing.

See this speech in context