Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. It is always a joy to listen to somebody with good news and certainly the Minister has brought good news today. The Minister is also hearing great things today. Even members of the Opposition are saying nice things about him. It certainly appears that there is progress and that things are heading in the right direction. We have become more competitive in recent years and because of that, we are making progress. I was delighted to read an article in The Economist this week which said that "Indicators of underlying competitiveness like unit labour costs have also turned in the right direction in most of the countries in trouble...Ireland has done the best, with a 14% improvement since 2008." We are often accused of talking ourselves down but there is good news here and the Minister has brought some of it with him today.

Having travelled around the country a lot recently, I have met some people who have talked themselves into bad news. They are just pessimists but there are others who have talked themselves into good news. It is so interesting to see some of the success stories. I have been taking an interest in the retail sector more than others and there are great success stories in that sector. I was in Malahide the other day and took a look at the new Avoca shop there.

I do not know how many are employed but I estimate that approximately 100 people work in the shop. It is doing some harm to Malahide because everybody who used to shop in the village is now going to Avoca. A chain called Carraig Donn has opened its 21st store even though it only started business a few years ago.

These Irish companies are not looking for somebody else to do a job they can do themselves. They are being innovative and the Government needs to be more innovative in its ideas. Money can be made available from voluntary pension schemes if we encourage people to use part of their funds to free up their finances or invest in house extensions. In 2009 Denmark allowed people to take a portion of their pension funds to cover immediate expenses rather than wait for retirement. Approximately 94% of those who had pensions took out some of their money and the economy was stimulated to the extent that GDP jumped by 1.4%. If we introduce a similar measure we might free up a portion of the estimated ¤100 million held in voluntary Irish savings to create confidence in the economy. Germany deregulated self-employment and cut back unemployment benefit. One may say that sounds like bad news but the intention was to encourage people to work more. The unemployment rate has fallen almost every year since 2005. Sometimes one must do uncomfortable things or take steps that may not be popular to create jobs.

We regard Sweden as a socialist and left-wing country but many changes have been introduced in that country. State handouts have become less generous and it has become more difficult to qualify for them. The Swedish Minister for Finance, Anders Borg, surprised himself when he introduced a tax cut on that basis. Grocers know that they sometimes sell more and increase their profits by reducing their prices. It is possible to do this if one is smart enough but governments have not thought this through over the years. Sometimes we can take in more money by reducing the tax rate. Further innovation is required in this area. When Charlie McCreevy announced a reduction in the betting tax from 20% to 10%, there were howls that he was helping his friends in the horseracing business. The following year he announced that as he took in more money at 10% than he did at 20%, he was going to reduce the rate to 5%. There were more howls that he was helping his friends in the horseracing business but the following year he was able to announce that he took in even more money at 5%.

The Swedish Minister for Finance firmly believes that job creation and economic recovery start with entrepreneurs. Although unpopular, he believed it was necessary to cut taxes for certain rich people. He argued that in most cases a company would not be created without its owner. There would be no Ikea without Ingvar Kamprad or a Tetra Pak without Ruben Rausing. Both individuals moved out of Sweden. Sinn Féin proposes a wealth tax, which is a sure way of losing a large number of people who would otherwise be willing to invest in Ireland. A high wealth tax and an inheritance tax cause people to emigrate because it becomes too costly to own a company.