Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

We may have to wait until Report Stage before we can consider some of the other points made by the Minister in his opening speech. He spoke about making changes to employee share ownership plans and personal pension schemes. The value of private pensions has decreased dramatically over the last 12 months, which is affecting those who are planning to retire over the next few years. I have heard nothing about the Government's plans to assist such people. One in five people in this country benefits from a Civil Service pension. Every Member of this House will benefit from the excellent public pension system. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people have no pension or have a private pension. Private pensions have gone down in value substantially. While there has been a great deal of debate about pensions — the Government has published a Green Paper on Pensions — nothing has been done to assist those who have experienced a significant reduction in the value of their pensions. The downturn in the international economy has affected the many pension funds which are based on equities. Nothing has been done to improve the circumstances of those who have private pensions and are approaching retirement in the next five or six years, although I expected something to be done. In the longer term, it is possible things may improve and people will get the benefit of that. However, there is nothing in the Bill in that regard.

There are also issues around tax reliefs such as the mid-Shannon corridor tourism infrastructure investment scheme. I thought that from now on the Department of Finance would do cost benefit analyses of any major changes and expenditure. No cost benefit analysis of that scheme has been published. I have no problem with the giving of tax reliefs as long as they are transparent and are of benefit to both the taxpayer and recipient.

I refer to capital gains tax exemptions in respect of a parent who gives a child a site. There is no mention of a brother or a sister who gives a sibling a site. Do the same exemptions apply? Are there proposals to change that? Parents often hand over the farm to the eldest son or daughter who, in turn, may give a sibling a site at a later stage. That issue should be addressed. It is not always the parent who gives a site to a child.

There probably will be more in-depth discussions on some of these aspects on Committee and Report Stages. The Finance Bill 2008 does not do all the Government said it would do for business. Most small businesses will not see major improvements in 2008 on the basis of this Finance Bill and due to the mismanagement of the economy, they will not reap too many benefits in 2009.