Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

It is good to see the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, in the Chamber for the discussion on the Finance (No. 2) Bill which will give legal effect to some of the initiatives in the jobs initiative programme introduced by the Government.

I join some of my colleagues in welcoming many aspects of the legislation, some sections in particular, for example, the proposed elimination of the air travel tax. However, it is clear from section 2 that no date for this is specified in the Bill. In theory, it would be a matter for the Government to agree, in conjunction with the airlines, when the proposal should be implemented. My view and that of Fianna Fáil is that a date should be included. We welcome the fact it is mentioned but this must be followed by a confirmed date.

We all welcome the proposition in section 3 in regard to the VAT reduction in the tourism sector because all of us know the difficulties being experienced by the hospitality and tourism sector throughout the country, particularly in rural areas. We realise that too many hotels were built during the boom and some of these are now struggling. Those that survive, especially small family-run hotels, need a boost, and the reduction in VAT from 13.5% to 9% will be of benefit in that regard. I would have welcomed an additional attempt by the Government to have reduced VAT further, if possible, especially on items such as coal and oil where prices affect many people who are struggling in the current economic climate to buy fuel to heat their homes. That deals with the proposal to give legal effect to the reduction of 9% in VAT. I shall refer to the pensions issue shortly.

The Bill will give legal effect to the jobs initiative programme which, in many ways, seems to be a move backwards by the Government instead of a proactive measure. Without criticising it, it appears to be a rowing back on the pre-election promises of Fine Gael, whose NewERA document was bandied around everywhere from Donegal to Cork and Galway to Dublin and was supposed to create 100,000 jobs by 2015. On 9 March, the Taoiseach outlined in the Dáil that within 100 days of taking office, the new Government would introduce a jobs budget. That was a move away from the NewERA document. The jobs initiative is a further move away from the original two promises made, both pre- and post-election. Although we welcome this attempt by the Government, there are no specific targets for how many jobs are to be created. Another area not referred to in the jobs initiative is the pre-election proposal by Fine Gael to establish a strategic investment bank. There seems to be a question about that now. Perhaps the Minister of State might also address that issue.

The Sinn Féin Senator referred to stimulus. Although we would all love to have a magic wand that could provide a stimulus to any economy, if we look at the biggest economy in the world, that of the United States, the President of that country provided a stimulus to the economy which has proved to be questionable, even negative. It has not produced any positive economic impact in terms of job creation in that economy. Ireland is a very small, open and exposed economy - the words used by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, yesterday in New York. By their nature, stimulus packages do not work very effectively in small, open economies. Stimulus is an important issue but the most important element is to put pressure on the job creating agencies - IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and others - to go out and bring back investment to this country. Investment is there to be won. I question the work being done by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. I hope part of the new Government's proposals will be to put additional pressure on both agencies to bring in investment.

Much has been said in this House and the Dáil about the pension levy which is effectively a stamp duty of 0.6% on the market value of assets under management in the pension schemes approved by the Revenue Commissioners. Approved retirement funds, ARFs, are exempt, as are, it would appear, pensions paid out of an annuity, public sector pensions and vested personal retirement savings accounts, PRSAs. Will the Minister of State clarify why PRSAs, which affect very many workers, are not exempt? The persons involved also have to pay the universal social charge on those payments and, if that is taken into account, there appears to be a double taxation on PRSAs. It makes no sense to exempt approved retirement funds, on the other hand. People like Michael Fingleton and Seánie FitzPatrick have invested money into those funds for wealth-gathering reasons. I fail to understand why wealth-gathering pensions are not being targeted.

On a number of occasions the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on public enterprise in the Dáil, Deputy Michael McGrath, raised the need for consultation with the Pensions Board. From replies to Dáil questions it appears there has been no, or very little, consultation with the Pensions Board. Unfortunately, the request made by Deputy McGrath concerning the need for an impact assessment on the pension levy also appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps the Minister of State might advise this House why there was no meaningful consultation with the Pensions Board and why the Government will not consider the option of an impact assessment on the pension levy.

I agree with Senator Conway on two points. He referred in the first place to hotels in this city that bump up their charges. We mentioned the assistance to be provided to the hospitality sector, but we know, too, that events , whether sporting or cultural, take place in this city, as do concerts, and hotels that charge one price when business is quiet bump up prices for visitors attending concerts and football games in Dublin and other cities. It is disgraceful of those establishments to do that. Very many people, many of whom are living on the breadline, come to Dublin to attend Gaelic football or soccer games or big concerts. They are forced to pay exorbitant prices when many of us could get the same room for a fraction of the cost when no such event occurs. I agree with Senator Conway, and Senator Kelly also referred to the issue. I would like to see the Government tackle this and taking on these elements within the hospitality sector. They tend to be chains of hotels acting against Irish consumers.