Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I will comment on the finance side of the Budget Statement, which was made by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. We have come through a severe pandemic. Thankfully, owing to the solid foundations put in place over the last decade, including balancing the books at the end of 2019, the nation had the resources to cope. We restored our good name and reputation which meant we could afford to borrow the money required to invest and support businesses throughout the country.

I acknowledge the supports provided for workers in the budget through the increase in the standard rate band of €1,500 and increases in the personal tax credit, employee tax credit and earned income tax credit of €50. Cutting the rate of tax might get bigger headlines but increasing the bands is also important. If we stand still and do not change the bands, everyone eventually ends up paying the higher rate of tax. It is important that they keep pace with income. I welcome the 30 cent increase in the minimum wage, bringing it to €10.50 per hour, and the associated increase in the USC band. We do not want people who benefit from the increase in the minimum wage losing out by paying additional USC. I also welcome the tax deduction for working from home, which amounts to 30% of the cost of vouched expenses for heat, electricity and broadband. Covid, by necessity, has increased the popularity of remote working and working from home. There are many positives from that but the costs were a concern raised by many people. Thankfully, the budget has responded to that concern in providing a 30% flat rate for these costs.

I welcome the support for businesses on the tax side, including tax credits for the digital gaming sector. In my area of Galway we have seen growth in this area recently. The budget also provides relief from corporation tax for start-up companies under section 486C and additional funding for the innovation equity fund. The employment wage subsidy scheme, which has been extremely important and has done a great deal to protect jobs and companies, is to be extended to April 2022.

Foreign direct investment is very important in many parts of the country, including Galway. Recent discussions about changes in corporation tax caused concern. I compliment the Minister for Finance and his team in the Department on agreeing to the recent deal and also on taking a strong stance and achieving the best deal for Ireland by ensuring a minimum corporation tax rate of just 15%. They also ensured many companies here will continue to pay the 12.5% rate because their revenues are less than €750 million. This is a very important issue for the country. These companies have done much for the tax take and employment up and down the country. It is important, therefore, that we got the best deal for Ireland. I compliment the Minister on that achievement. That goes for the team at the Department of Finance, including the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Fleming.

I welcome the extension of the help-to-buy scheme to the end of 2022. The zoned land tax is, as the Minister highlighted, not a revenue-raising initiative but one to boost the supply of houses. That is important because there is always a strong focus on the demand side initiatives on housing, whereas it is the supply side that needs to be boosted. There are many examples of people sitting on serviced zoned land. If this initiative helps to kick-start moves by some of them to advance to the planning and construction stage soon, that will be a welcome boost to supply.

Those are some of the issues on the finance side of the budget as we recover from the pandemic, restore our public services and living standards and repair our public finances. I thank the Minister of State for his work.