Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely on the amendment. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I wish to confirm our total support for the overall Brexit Bill. Members have spoken about how important Brexit is to the country and we all hope we can get a deal. I again acknowledge - for the fourth time, I think - the work the Minister, Deputy Coveney, the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, and their officials have done in getting us to where we are. The Labour Party totally supports that work. We all hope we will get the deal which this country deserves.

We have an amendment before us today. The Cathaoirleach will correct me if I am wrong. When we were at this stage last week, our amendment was accepted by everybody in the House. Today we find that the Government has tabled an amendment to remove last week's amendment tabled by the Labour Party. We tabled that amendment for many of the reasons espoused by Senator Buttimer this morning. I want to concentrate on a few of them again. This provision is basically a new tourist tax. Senator Buttimer mentioned management systems. Many small businesses will now need to install those so-called management systems. That is the reason we proposed the review in the first place.

Based on conversations with my colleagues in the Dáil, I believe the Government made a commitment to accept this amendment. When that did not happen in the Dáil we tabled our amendment here.Once again, and I hope I will be corrected if I am wrong, this was accepted by one and all in this House, including the Government parties, last week. We need to ensure that a review of this measure is carried out. It will affect a great many businesses. Last week, I put on record a number of conversations I have had about the potential for this tourist tax to affect up to 500 jobs at a time when the youth employment rate is over 40%. Again, I will state that many young people start their working careers in these businesses. For all the reasons Government and Opposition Senators spoke about last week and which have been mentioned again this morning, the introduction of this tourist tax is totally unacceptable. We will oppose the amendment and call for a vote. I thank the Cathaoirleach for giving me time this morning.