John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Leader for a debate on the economy. If anything demonstrates that this is a small open economy, it must be agriculture, in which we either benefit or suffer from commodity prices set abroad. It is a wholly international scene. There are food surpluses, which means that the price of product is being driven downwards.

In the debate on the economy there are many practical aspects we might consider. One is the fact that we have encouraged people, as part of the drive towards a green economy, to build windmills. This has applied particularly to farmers. The repayment schedule for a windmill is 14 years with the current VAT rate. If the rate were changed to reflect the fact that the windmills are an integral part of the business, this would enable a farmer to make a return in less than ten years, making it viable for him or her to go to the bank to look for money to erect a windmill. The average cost is €54,000, a large percentage of which is accounted for by VAT. It would be a practical initiative. In addition, it would help to reduce our CO2 emissions and act as an import substitute, as we would need to buy less foreign oil to generate electricity.

Perhaps in the debate we will also consider other practical measures. Every so often it is timely to consider taxes that do not generate revenue and may actually cost money. In particular, we might consider the VAT rate in comparison to that in Northern Ireland. We might also consider whether there would be merit in removing the €10 tourist tax at airports if it would encourage more people to come to our shores.