Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

Absolutely, a Chathaoirligh. Would I ever disobey you?

I thank the Minister for outlining the Bill's provisions. I am surprised that Senator White is upset with some aspects of it. The Finance Bill 2004 will go down in history as one of the shortest Finance Bills to come before the Houses. This is understandable in the context of the significant attention the Minister must be giving to his role and responsibilities as chairman of the European Council of Finance Ministers. The Budget Statement also gave rise to huge hopes and expectations for decentralisation. As a Killarney man, I look forward to seeing the legions of public servants that have been promised to the town in the wake of the Minister's budget day announcement.

There is one important area where this Bill has done a disservice to the public. In the 2003 budget, the Minister introduced new stamp duty regimes for credit cards. Measures were introduced to prevent the avoidance of stamp duty which have had a negative impact on consumer choice, innovation and competition. While all Members support measures designed to prevent the avoidance and evasion of tax, it is important they are proportionate and effective. In the 2003 budget, the Minister's measures imposed a charge on any credit card that a cardholder had in a given year. This has the unfortunate effect of penalising cardholders who wish to change credit card provider. In other words, a cardholder who moved from AIB to MBNA got hit twice by the card tax, although still only holding one card. This is wrong and discourages competition which we want to see in all sectors.

I urge the Minister to review the stamp duty on credit cards introduced in the 2003 budget. Amending it would lessen the burden imposed on consumers. There must be some way of amending these measures while maintaining the integrity of the collections system. I welcome the Minister's amendments to the Bill on Report Stage in the Dáil relating to research, development and innovation. I hope he will show equal generosity and foresight in other budget measures that will have direct implications for consumers.

Our famous tax exiles do much charitable work in this State. However, there is something wrong in a society where wealthy individuals pay practically no tax by taking bed and breakfast for 183 days outside the State. To paraphrase US Senator John Kerry's call of "bring 'em on", can we bring them back? They are not being patriotic even though they are as Irish as the rest of us. The Minister has been a man of innovation on many occasions, so perhaps he will have a way to tackle this issue.

The hard-pressed consumer is the loser under this Bill. At a time when Ministers are telling consumers to shop around, the Minister for Finance has perpetuated features of the tax code that prevent shopping around for financial services. The stamp duty on credit cards is still structured in a way that when one moves card provider, one is hit twice. The stamp duty on mortgage instruments also means that the consumer who decides to move their mortgage account gets hit with a stamp duty bill. I would like the Minister to reconsider the issue of stamp duty for first-time buyers, because he made some more than sympathetic soundings in that respect last year. I look forward to hearing his comments in that regard.

Many people felt that decentralisation was not a suitable subject for a budget day announcement, but the Minister decided to make the announcement in the way that he did. I am delighted that the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism will be relocated to Killarney. If I may say so, the town of Killarney and the Department in question are well-matched.