Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Harris. I commend the Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Howlin on their speeches earlier in the other House. Towards the end of his speech, the Minister, Deputy Howlin, said, "This Government is not going to allocate resources to services that are unreformed". We still have much reform to do and perhaps we lost sight of some of it in trying to complete the troika programme. Child benefit, which goes to everybody with children, including millionaires, was increased. Medical cards were extended to everybody aged under six and over 70. I have said in this House that redistribution should take place from the “haves” to the “have nots” and that universalism costs the Government very large amounts of money.

The increases in education seem to be divided approximately half and half between teachers directly in schools and support services. This trend has been worrying for some time. Let us get resources in the classroom; the support services are fine but we want to reduce class sizes by increasing the number of people who give the classes and lectures. More resources should be diverted into the classroom rather than support services. I welcome the ending of the pension levy. As Senator O’Brien said, it was amazing that those of us who have unfunded pensions in the public sector raided the pensions of those who are paying for them to the tune of €2 billion. I am delighted it has stopped, or is scheduled to stop. It was an amazing operation and I was surprised there were no challenges to it on the grounds of equality.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Noonan’s recognition that it would be pointless for us to try to defend the base erosion and profit shifting, BEPS, system. He wants to increase the resources of the Revenue Commissioners in its role as the competent authority. Although the Revenue Commissioners were part of this, they were in denial until the OECD, the US and other EU countries said these deals were made by the Revenue Commissioners with, for example, Apple in Cork. I am nervous that the tax advisors and lawyers who drew up these schemes are coming into the offices of the Minister of State and the Minister offering to design the next scheme. They are like the bankers who did damage in the past. I would like to see a good distance being kept between the Department of Finance and the tax lawyers and accountants who designed massive tax avoidance schemes. I would prefer a simple tax system - the 12.5% the Minister espoused in the other House - with no deductions or allowances, and have the tax lawyers and accountants do some more useful work than reducing the amount of revenue available to the Exchequer.

I wish the knowledge development box the Minister is trying to develop every success. I would have phased out the double Irish sooner than 2020. Let us move to a new industrial policy that is not based on tax avoidance. We are to give an additional €6 million per year for three years to the horse and greyhound racing fund. It has always amazed me that we put such a priority on this industry. Most of the extra betting will be online. People bet on the Rose of Tralee and by-elections – about which the bookies are usually inaccurate – and people bet on the abolition of this House. It is nothing to do with subsidising horses and dogs, as we seem to assume. We have far more important priorities, as nearly every Senator agrees, than that the country should be going to the dogs. I wonder about continuing the home renovation scheme with €190 million worth of improvements to existing houses when the priority should be new houses. While it is very nice for a person who has a house to get such a grant, why not give priority to those who are on housing waiting lists? Irish Water must be a test case in how not to establish a new quango.