Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

The Senator has not studied the question. Let us study it before we call it nonsense. The stamp duty issue is irrelevant to large tracts of the country. I visited an estate agent in Tipperary, where the average price for a good detached three-bedroom house is approximately €220,000, well below the stamp duty threshold. Moreover, somebody must be buying the 93,000 houses that were built last year.

What many ignore with regard to stamp duty is the fact that this country does not have a property tax. I heard an auctioneer argue on "Morning Ireland" that the onus fell on the seller, particularly at the higher range. People of my generation have seen astronomical increases in the value of property. Some of the media campaigns have not been motivated by concern for first-time buyers but by people sitting on properties worth at least €1 million, who want the market to continue ever onwards and upwards.

One of the problems the Minister faces is that he is under pressure in every budget to increase the excise duty on cigarettes which, unfortunately, has a major impact on inflation. I recommend that he would in future pick from the indirect tax area some countervailing reductions which would neutralise the cost of living impact, if he cannot get agreement from the social partners to eliminate this.

In contrast with the position across the water, small businesses will have good reason to be pleased with the budget and the Finance Bill. If I understand correctly what I read, the bizarre challenge by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to the raising of the BES thresholds has been dismissed by the European Commission.

There is great interest in tax incentives for renewable energy. Several points have been made to me in this regard, one by a person in the forestry sector, namely, that we have a potential renewable energy resource in the thinnings from woodlands. It is important that these thinnings be used and not just encourage products such as willow and miscanthus.

Many businesses are interested in getting into biofuels. There is a danger that much of this material might be imported but there is also a potential for it to be grown here, particularly in the absence of the sugar beet industry. The point has been made to me that while many grants have already been awarded, excise duty is the crucial factor.