Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome and I thank him for listening. There is no doubt that progress is being made but more can be made. The key area that many Senators have touched upon is the need for regional recovery as well as recovery in the larger cities.

I am thinking particularly of rural Ireland. The Minister can make the nation more tax competitive. The World Economic Report has well documented that we are way behind the UK. We rank 93rd for tax competitiveness out of 144 countries, compared with the UK which ranks 33rd. SMEs in Galway tell me they are being offered six months' free rates and rent to open businesses in the UK. That could be just an office for export purposes, which would be fine. It could, however, mean moving the operation and losing jobs here too. We would then face not only a brain drain but an SME drain which we must counteract.

Capital gains tax here is absolutely out of whack. If I sell my business here I pay 40% capital gains tax but if I go 60 miles up the road to Northern Ireland I would get all the plum rewards for setting up a business in the UK. We cannot afford our nearest neighbours being that tax competitive. When our foreign direct investment, FDI, offer was so attractive Prime Minister Cameron and the UK Government got up on their high horse and told us where to go. What are we saying to them about their attractiveness for SMEs? Probably nothing because when we deal with other countries in Europe our self-esteem is very low. We have to step up to the mark. We are a sovereign nation although a member of the EU. We are well able to do business. We are a creative and innovative nation. We are a resilient people but let us not be sold out by our tax policies.