Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with much of what has been said, but disagree with some points made. Senator Barrett makes a valid point that the days of providing tax incentives to do something that is unsustainable, just because we would like nice old houses to be retained, is questionable at a time when we are bringing forward tax increases of the order of ¤44 billion for this calendar year, having risen from ¤34 billion in 2008.

I agree with Senator Hayden with regard to the construction sector. We must get those previously involved in the sector, mostly men, back working. Many of these people will not retrain but will rot for the rest of their lives unless we get them back working in the sector. However, I disagree with Senator Hayden that we need to build more housing, because there are thousands of unoccupied houses in the country. The last census indicated there were approximately 200,000 homes unoccupied throughout the country. I made a point earlier in the context of the incentive for hotels and guests.

I do not know that I am in favour of a town zone. Prices immediately increase in areas that benefit from tax incentives. The same thing happens when grant aid goes into many areas. The construction sector gobbles up the moneys that are made available and there is no actual benefit. I am in favour of projects that encourage people to go to city centres to do business, to work in jobs, to avail of entertainment facilities or for similar reasons. It should be up to each town or city to come up with such projects. Rather than specifying a zone and saying "there you are lads, off you go", we should act in a clever and strategic way by making it possible for voluntary groups and local authorities, etc., to get involved in projects that benefit from tax breaks.

I will give a good example. Wexford County Council was based at a number of sites throughout the town of Wexford before it built its fine new premises. Business has been affected since they all moved to the new location, which is approximately a mile from the town centre. That is what happens. I am using that as an example. We have a duty to keep premises, facilities and projects in our town centres. I am not sure whether we need to focus on shops. We can focus on other things.