Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I would like to clarify for Senator Gilroy the reason I am disappointed at this VAT relief, which we are not opposing and which we welcome. We are not opposing the section. We are concerned that the VAT has not been extended to other items that are included in Schedule 3 of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010. That schedule contains a list of goods and services. This Bill refers specifically to sections 3(1), 3(2), 3(3), 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13(3) of that Schedule, and I wonder why section 17(1), which includes household fuels - that is, costs that affect the poorest people in society - is not included. Why are they not getting a break? That is the point. It is not that we oppose measures that may, and I hope, will create jobs - we are just looking for fairness. I have not mentioned the construction industry, but what about the energy industry? Section 17(1) of the Schedule applies only to the home energy industry, including suppliers of home fuels, oil, coal and so on. Why is this measure not being extended to them, while the media barons are getting a break, although there is no demonstrable benefit? The Minister has failed several times to answer the questions I asked about newspapers.

I disagree with my party colleague on cinemas. Ireland has one of the highest rates of cinema attendance in the world. I regularly go to my local cinema at the weekend. I went to see "The Hangover Part II" last Friday night with my wife and it was very enjoyable - I must say I disagree with the critics on that one. It is very pricey to go to the cinema, yet the place is packed. It does not seem to me that there is a problem there. There are many people employed in the cinema industry, which is by and large a multinational industry, yet we are giving them in a tax break in the hope and expectation that they will create jobs. I certainly hope they will create jobs.

On section 3, I want to clarify for Senator Gilroy that the VAT reduction in the tourism sector is very positive. However, it is important that the Government and the responsible bodies, including Tourism Ireland, go out to the world, tell people we have reduced our prices and ask them to come here. The Minister said the proof would be in the tourism numbers. I hope we will be able to show increased numbers of people coming to the country, but that will only happen if we let them know. I have often questioned the value of advertising tourism products within Ireland, although I accept that domestic spending is important. With regard to the brochures that we get in the newspapers every couple of months showing us the deals, however, it seems to me the money would be far better spent abroad in an attempt to attract new money into the country. The Irish people certainly know that prices will come down, and I hope they will come down because there is no provision in the Act to force them to come down. I also hope this will create jobs. However, the best way to ensure that happens is to let people know abroad that we have made our product more competitive.

It is important to note that the Irish tourism product has become much more competitive in recent years. I often thought it was a shame that we were not advertising across the world. We have luxury hotels all over the place - we might call them NAMA hotels, but they are fairly luxurious compared to what one gets in other countries - and they seem to offer rooms at very low prices. There is a major opportunity now to tell this to people around the world. They are used to really bad hotels when they go on holidays - in America, particularly, the standard of hotels is generally much lower than here. This is also the case, it must be said, in Great Britain. Moderately priced hotels in Great Britain are usually terrible places to stay. One cannot find nice places such as we have here. The message needs to go out abroad that one can find a really nice place to stay here for a low price. Now, thanks to this measure, the prices are even cheaper. I hope we will see jobs created as a result of that and the unemployment rate going down.

I hope this Bill will be successful. I want the Government to win on this Bill because in this case, a win for the Government is a win for the country.