Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House. We all need to recognise the necessity for the extensions contained within the Bill as they relate to the EWSS and the CRSS. In that context, we would have been minded to support the Bill were it not for section 13 and the railroading of section 14 into the Bill, which means we cannot support it. Before I deal with those sections I want to refer to the extension of the EWSS and the CRSS. For many months we have raised the pointed exclusion of non-rateable businesses from the Government's enterprise supports. The business resumption support scheme is welcome in that regard. It strikes me as unfair that we have provisions for another round of funding for the restart grant yet under the business resumption support scheme it is an advance on the trading expenses and there is a difference for non-rateable businesses, particularly for those businesses that are struggling most. Arts enterprises, events businesses and many others are non-rateable. The Government can go further than it has with the business restrictions support scheme. I ask it to extend the restart grant to the non-rateable businesses.

The other striking element in the Bill is lack of medium-term thinking. In some sectors there will not be any springing back to normal when they fully reopen. Other than the VAT rate being extended into next year, we do not have targeted supports to maintain employment in some of the firms in the events, leisure arts, retail and other sectors. I am reminded that last December, when the hospitality sector was fully open other than the pubs in Dublin, we still had an unemployment rate of 53%.Just under 100,000 people aged between 15 and 24 years were unemployed. There was no springing back to normal for that age cohort, a large proportion of who are employed in the hospitality sector. It is disappointing that we have seen no effort made towards a short-time working scheme within those sectors, some of which will not survive. Some will but they will need a great deal of additional support because it is not only the pandemic but also Brexit that is a great challenge.

The Labour Party's main objection to the Bill relates to stamp duty changes. I am conscious that the Affordable Housing Bill and the Land Development Agency Bill will be discussed here this evening. I understand the intent behind both, notwithstanding my huge reservations and concerns about the mechanisms employed in both of those Bills. However, I can tell the Minister that what is contained in section 13 of this Bill and the exemption of apartments will have a devastating impact on the area I know best, Dublin's north side, on the prospect of conventional apartments or houses ever being built. With the stamp duty changes, there is a double incentive for developers to never build conventional apartments or house. There is no incentive to build a house because of the stamp duty changes. With the build-to-rent model, why would people ever build a conventional apartment when they can get away with a smaller floor area, less storage provisions and a lower construction standard? Another issue in Dublin is that it is only developers with deep pockets who can afford to buy land in the city. Section 14 is the other really egregious part of the Bill because of its exemptions for those who will lease residential housing to local authorities on a long-term basis. We have to ask about the direction this Government is going. There has almost been a doubling of reliance by local authorities and housing bodies on leasing between 2017 and 2020.

Senator Casey asked about the impact on individuals. I speak as someone who, as a new councillor, voted for O'Devaney Gardens, and hated doing so, because it was already in the works for many years, and as a person who has had to tell people about the housing assistance payment, and hated doing so because of its less secure tenure. We have an opportunity to get this Bill right but the Government is walking away from that. It is walking away from the chance to ensure that we deliver housing directly, that we do not let places like the north side of Dublin, or, indeed, the south side, be left out to dry and have no conventional apartments or housing built over the coming years. It is a real disgrace that the Government is allowing these sections into the Bill.