Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to say a couple of things about the budget. I welcome the introduction by the Government of the one stage approval by councils when it comes to building new, affordable and mainly social homes. I think this was led through discussions involving Deputies Cowen and Michael McGrath. Every council in the country now has a fund of €6 million and does not have to ask the Government or go further than the county manager. That is the least amount the councils have to spend. I want to know the timeframe and, most importantly, what procedures will be put in place to ensure that county managers, with the help of their councillors, identify sites and build houses on them as soon as possible. The initiative should streamline the whole process. The councils do not have to go looking for the moneys and the fund is available to spend immediately. The initiative should speed up the process but I am keen to learn more about the procedures.

Yesterday, there was almost a 50% increase in VAT for hotels and restaurants announced in the budget. The rate of 9% VAT has been increased to 13.5%. The increase was very extreme and a slower increase spanning a couple of budgets would have been the way forward, particularly in rural Ireland. As the Leader knows, rural Ireland will suffer the most from the increase. Trade in the bigger establishments in Dublin is booming and thriving so they will not be as badly affected as rural restaurants and hotels, as outlined by the Restaurants Association of Ireland and the Irish Hotels Federation. Hotels and restaurants in provincial towns will be massively affected by the increase in VAT.It will definitely cost jobs. Since 2011, the hospitality sector has provided an extra 65,000 jobs, and this will certainly do some harm in that area.