Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While I do not always agree with Senator Cullinane I support his call for a debate on taxation prior to the budget.

There is a need for such a debate. I refer in particular to taxes that relate to the creation of employment. On the one hand, all of us have seen how small businesses are struggling in our towns and, on the other, a change in the VAT rate made a significant difference to tourism related activities. We must examine the impact of VAT rates on retailers. Over the weekend I met a number of business people who believe the 2% increase in the VAT rate had a severe impact on the spending power of customers in the retail sector.

I again ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to update the House on the programme for job creation. In a positive development, Ireland has been rated as being in the top ten in the latest International Chamber of Commerce open market index, which ranks countries by their openness to trade. We are ranked eighth out of 75 countries and come fifth in Europe, behind Luxembourg, Belgium, Malta and the Netherlands. Given that the Taoiseach set a target of making us being the best small country in which to do business by 2016, we have a bit of work to do.