Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the legislation, which affords us an opportunity to say a few words about what should be the main concern of the House and the body politic for the crucial coming years, that is, job creation. We are moving towards an unemployment level of almost 500,000 people, a scale of human misery we cannot sustain and cannot allow. During one of the House's debates on job creation 12 months ago, I suggested that all legislation appearing before the House, regardless of the originating Department, should be employment proofed. In other words, we should examine every rule, regulation and legislative measure on the basis of whether it creates or costs jobs.

The Finance Bill forms part of the Government's jobs initiative. During the next few years, we will see a large draft of legislation and measures designed to put Ireland back to work. It is what we all must aim towards because we cannot solve our public spending crisis, budget deficit problem or banking debt problem unless people are working instead of claiming social welfare payments and living on the margins of society.

The Bill's measures are modest. It would be unrealistic to expect any Government that had been in office only for a few weeks to be in a position to introduce a large raft of new legislation and new thinking, but the Bill is a positive first step and, during the coming years, I hope to see much more activity on the job creation front from the new Government.

The Bill's four measures are straightforward. The first three - the research and development tax credit, the suspension of the air travel tax and the reduction in the lower rate of VAT - are not contentious and have been requested by Senators and Deputies for the past 12 months. During a debate in the House last week, I was glad that our friend, Fianna Fáil's Senator White, asked why these measures had not been taken already. Those relating to the air travel tax and VAT can only be positive.

During the Tallaght strategy of the late 1980s, a Fianna Fáil minority Government took the first steps in reducing the general rates of taxation. Everyone was pleasantly surprised - I am not sure why they would have been - that this resulted in enhanced economic activity and job and wealth creation. We must do everything possible to generate economic activity, which the lower rate of VAT and the suspension of the air travel tax will do.

I will reflect briefly on the pension levy. I listened to Senator Mullen with interest. I have a difficulty with the concept of a pension levy, notwithstanding the fact that the broad package of measures must be funded. We would be unrealistic and irresponsible were we to pretend that we could introduce measures for which someone else would pay. We must pay for them ourselves and the Bill's methodology for doing so is the pension levy. However, we must be careful about the signals that can be sent by the pension levy. We do not want to frighten the horses, if the House will excuse the pun, or send a message to the effect that people who have been cautiously creating wealth by investing in pension or saving funds will be hit with an unexpected and, perhaps, unfair attack on those funds. We will have a better opportunity on Committee Stage to debate this matter in more detail with the Minister and to get firm assurances from him that the levy will only be for four years and will not be built upon.

We are all practising politicians and amateur economists, but we are receiving queries and telephone calls from constituents who are worrying about the security of their savings. I would love to be able to give them the answer, but I do not have the necessary economic expertise. I look forward to debating this question more fully with the Minister on Committee Stage.

Regarding our discussion on the pension levy and the pensions industry, while Senator Byrne will claim I am straying beyond the narrow confines of the Bill, we need a full debate on pensions as an economic topic. In the last Oireachtas, work was done on pension reform, a matter that needs to be considered. We must ask how the money in pension funds is applied, how it is spent and what benefits accrue. This is a debate for another day.

I welcome the legislation. It is a step in the right direction, but we must keep reminding ourselves that we have many more steps to take if we are to put Ireland back to work.