Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

——rocketing up the price of transport and motoring. It is still advocating this despite the fact that oil prices have increased enormously. Confidence in who will keep tax rates low will very definitely be an issue in the next election.

I agree we are generating sufficient revenue to do what we need and want to do. Yesterday's Transport 21 investment plan is a clear illustration of this fact. Obviously, it is necessary that a tight rein be kept on expenditure to maintain its efficiency.

Sometimes I would like if Ministers boasted not about how much more than others they had spent but about the amount of taxpayers' money they had succeeded in saving. Apropos the transport plan, Senator Ryan mentioned that some of the ideas were delayed for five years. That may be so but much is happening. I do not remember any transport plans in the rainbow coalition's election manifesto. At least an enormous amount is being done.

I will use my remaining time to discuss a few matters relating to the forthcoming budget. The Minister was quite correct to point out that this Government, in its previous reincarnation, introduced the minimum wage in the first place. Last year a major priority was to take people on the minimum wage out of the tax net. Some of them fell back in. It would be worthwhile for the Minister to complete this process and, if possible, leave a margin of safety so employees do not fall back within the tax net. Having said that, it must be pointed out that not everyone on the minimum wage is poor. In some cases, they may be students trying to earn a bit of extra income and therefore one should not be too simplistic about the matter.

Child care is clearly a major priority for the budget, irrespective of how it is approached. I envisage reliefs in this regard as taking precedence over other tax reliefs. As the Minister is probably aware, many of us met IFA representatives in the course of the day. The first item on their agenda has a good deal of merit. They advocate that where landholdings are being consolidated, they should be free of capital gains tax, except where people are putting money into their pockets as opposed to restructuring those landholdings. This also has an animal health dimension.

We all wish the Minister well regarding his plans for tax incentives for the construction industry because it is booming and not all of these tax reliefs are needed. The Minister should carry through his intention to limit these tax reliefs.

The Minister should tighten up definitions in the artist's exemption scheme. I am not convinced that the scheme was intended to include political memoirs written by Members of the Oireachtas and there are other works that should not be included in the scheme.