Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his ruling. I was seeking to save money. I supported the commercial sections relating to living in the city but there is a question about building grants for commercial buildings in certain areas. Had we not gone ahead with that, it would have saved money. Anyway, I appreciate the ruling of the Leas-Chathaoirleach. The retail sector was discussed here yesterday. The reason retailing is in difficulty in town centres is largely due to all the factors we have been discussing in the House. We have had to take an extra ¤10 billion out in taxation since the recovery programme began and that is why people do not have money for shops. Giving people fiscal privilege to build shops near Georgian houses does not seem to me to be a good idea and it would not have cost money had we withdrawn the fiscal privilege. That is my view but I will not press the recommendation. It seems to me that what started out as people living in Georgian houses has extended by the second half of the section to more construction subsidies for shops in cities which already have ample empty shops, unfortunately, as we know. This goes back to the general macro problem that the Minister and his Department have been trying to deal with. However, one cannot solve that by giving tax breaks to people to build new shops in what were previously Georgian areas because we already have a surplus of them.