Mary White (Fianna Fail)

The Senator should stay the way he is. It is a good way to be. There is no point in disagreeing and finding fault just for the sake of it.

The items in the budget which are most significant to me are the personal income tax changes. Since 1977, average tax rates have fallen for all categories of taxpayers, including those on lower incomes. We all recall when we were paying high tax, and how awful it was that no matter how much one earned, one had little disposable income left. We know the difference the improvements in the tax system have made. What warms my heart is that an increasing proportion of those on the income tax books, currently over 35% of them, pay no tax. It is critical that people on lower incomes pay no tax.

The second item of significance to me is the BES. Having started a business with Connie Doody, I know the importance of the BES. It was critical to us at a certain stage in our business. It is very difficult to get money and the BES kept us going. We were about three years in business at the time and it was the life blood of the company. The Minister is correct to say the scheme should be focused and targeted. It cannot be applied in a slapdash manner. The increase in the maximum amount of money that a company can raise under the BES as well as under the seed capital scheme, from €750,000 to €1 million, is very important to new, young entrepreneurial companies, which are finding it hard to get money.

At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service we listened to a very passionate plea by members of the film industry and the unions involved. They begged us to ask the Minister not to remove the tax relief on films. I accept there were abuses, but it is good to give the industry another chance. The trade unions told us there were about 4,000 people directly or indirectly employed in film-making in Ireland. There are also thousands of young people studying film in different colleges around the country. It is a very important industry. I was conscious at the meeting of the committee that different groups were attending. It might be good to have an umbrella group, a film industry authority, similar to the IDA, selling Ireland as a film industry base. The Minister's decision is, however, correct. Those involved in the film business felt it would collapse if the relief was removed.

Tax credit on R & D is critical. In his speech in Dublin Castle on his priorities for the EU Presidency, the Taoiseach said that regarding R & D, Ireland and the EU were only in the halfpenny place compared to the United States. The competition that Ireland will face from China, India and the new entrants to the EU will be extraordinary. As a business person I know the reality of competition. It is hellish to survive in the market. As a country, we will have to be very hungry for survival in the face of cheap labour in China, India and the eastern European countries which want to be like us. We must improve our performance on competitiveness which concerns not just wages but many other issues and of which there is not an awareness. As my company does half of its business with the UK, I have experience of overcoming the growing strength of the euro. We struggled to sustain our business in the UK and had to get extra sales to make up for the loss in the exchange rate. It may sound easy, but to be competitive requires extraordinary dedication by all concerned. I also wish to personally thank the Minister for Finance for introducing a tax exemption on the transfer of intellectual property. I was delighted that he did so and I will appreciate it for the rest of my life.

The Minister for Finance has kept a steady course through a terrible world recession. We are doing much better than any other country. I found it sickening to listen to the UK Chancellor, Gordon Brown, blowing on about how Britain was best at this and that. Ireland is far superior to Britain in the handling of its economy. The next step is to declare war on poverty in Ireland. There are pockets of people who cannot compete and work in the economy and who need to be helped. A sustained and targeted ten year war on poverty is where our attention should next be directed. Those of us who can work and compete are doing grand. However, those, such as the disabled and Travellers, in poverty need help. I have seen it in my own business with young employees coming from dysfunctional homes. I have seen them bursting for a job, wanting to be good at it only to return to a dysfunctional family in the evening. This affects them coming to work the following day.

In the coming years, child care will become the most important issue for the age 25-40 years cohort. With the cost of child care, it is now a luxury for some to have a second child. The Government has done its best to increase the number of child care facilities. However, a family with two children, one of six months and another of two years, and earning €30,000 will only break even. A second child has become a luxury to such families. The supply of child care has increased but the demand is still greater, leading to expensive charges. It is also stopping highly qualified women from that age group from working. They are dispirited as they are inclined to stay at home to care for the children. Reintegration into the workplace then becomes a further problem. This issue must be dealt with as it is critical to that age group. I have worked on this issue and I hope the Minister will address it.

A war on poverty needs to be declared and the child care issue needs to be addressed. I am proud of what the Minister for Finance and his officials have achieved. It is marvellous how they have put their hands on the tiller, particularly when one sees the state of the US economy.