Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I welcome his words as well. We were not sure what was going to happen in this budget. There was a great deal of talk in recent weeks, but we were not sure where it was going to go.

I must say I was concerned when I heard the Minister, Deputy Noonan, speaking about creating jobs. I have a real fear when Governments feel they should create jobs. I am delighted that the Minister for Finance is not emphasising that particular area and is instead speaking about allowing businesses and entrepreneurs to create jobs. When the Minister, Deputy Howlin, mentioned creating jobs, it seemed to me that he was talking about public service jobs. I am not sure that is right.

I welcome the extension of the 9% VAT rate that applies to tourism. I have heard that Ryanair has already reacted positively to the decision to reduce air travel tax to 0%. The home renovation scheme is certainly worthwhile and is to be recommended. The same thing applies to the so-called build your business initiative.

I have a concern about the 41% rate that now applies to DIRT and pensions. It seems wrong that someone who has worked the whole way through and saved their money or put it into a pension now has to pay the 41% rate, compared with a rate of 23% five or six years ago.

I think the exemption that will apply to self-employed people who start their own businesses should mirror the corporation tax exemption. It seems that one will need to have been unemployed for 15 months to avail of this scheme. Why not incentivise people who are currently working, rather than just the unemployed, to start new businesses?

I believe there are many good things in this budget. Our main aim has to be to get people working again. Rather than relying on the Government to do that, we must ensure we get people working through the creation of jobs by businesses and entrepreneurs. I think employment is certainly going in the right direction. I congratulate the Minister on the steps he has taken in that area.

I would like to speak about foreign direct investment. A genuine question must be asked about whether the Government has blinked in relation to multinationals and international tax avoidance. I can understand why the Minister has said that, in the future, companies will have to be resident in some jurisdiction instead of using various jurisdictions to be stateless, but I hope this step does not act as a disincentive and does not result in companies that might have engaged in foreign direct investment here deciding to go somewhere else.