Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply but it is exactly the kind of reply I expected. I am a practising farmer and I fully understand how VAT operates on farms. He stated, "Revenue has advised, however, that outlay for other purposes such as slurry storage bags does not come within the scope of the refund order." It is incomprehensible to say slurry storage should not be VAT refundable for unregistered farmers. Farmers who are registered for VAT are, in the vast majority of cases, responsible for very large units, while ordinary rank-and-file farmer tend not to be registered for VAT. Such farmers will use the VAT refund in these cases where they are putting additional infrastructure on their farm, and can reclaim VAT. VAT in respect of fencing is reclaimable, and if a milking parlour or an underground slurry tank is installed, the VAT on that is reclaimable, but the VAT in respect of slurry bags is not.

I do not accept the answer. The Minister for Finance has to go to Revenue and direct it to re-examine this classification. How can anyone with common sense say slurry storage should not come under the refund order? As I said, I have contacted Revenue on a number of occasions and received this same cock-and-bull story of an answer. It is either laziness or incompetence on the part of Revenue not to recognise that this is an efficient, cost-effective way of storing slurry for a lot of small and medium-sized farmers, and for it not to be VAT rebatable is unacceptable.

I urge the Minister of State to speak to the Minister for Finance with a view to his insisting that Revenue re-examine the refund order to allow VAT on slurry bags to be reclaimable. It makes no sense. We are in an era when slurry storage capacity is going to have to increase on the vast majority of farms, and this discrepancy as regards VAT refunds is just not acceptable.

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