Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I am conscious that the Finance Bill has spent many hours under consideration in the Dáil and will confine my remarks to a small number of specific issues.

Senator Casey very eloquently talked about the need to fix the EWSS. Many of us across this Chamber have fielded calls from hoteliers, and from those who work in the night-time economy and in catering who are devastated by the cuts to the scheme. What has struck me over the last number of weeks is that when a cut was made to the pandemic unemployment payment, we were told that there were plenty of other jobs and that the people who work in the night-time economy can get a job somewhere else. That response showed a huge lack of respect for musicians, bouncers and everybody who works in the night-time economy. Again, in the past week we have heard the line that there are companies that get the EWSS but are they entitled to it as they have been open on a full-time basis for the last number of months? It is the role of Revenue and the Government to monitor who gets the EWSS. There is a clear and real need now because of the restrictions and, indeed, arguably the necessary restrictions, that the Government must up its game in the way that it supports people who are going to be put out of work or suffer a massive cut to their working hours because of the restrictions. It is incumbent on this Government to restore the EWSS to where it was.

Section 3 deals with the income tax relief for remote working and the increase to 30% in respect of the costs that are to be claimed. I welcome that small progress on the current position for those who work from home and the utility costs on which they can claim tax relief. I find it hard to understand why the provision would not be backdated to 2021. I ask that because in the budget that was announced in October last year the increase in the tax relief for those working from home was backdated to 2020. As the Minister of State and I know, the working from home guidance has never been fully lifted. In fact, companies, workplaces and workers were encouraged to very gradually return to the workplace well into Spring 2022. Of course, from 16 November we had the guidance that people should work from home unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, it makes no sense that one has a relief that only kicks in in 2022 when in 2021 people are being asked to work from home if at all possible. It is only a very small measure but an important one in the context of the energy costs faced by households and workers at this point in time, which was referred to by Senator Gavan. We are looking at an annual increase in energy costs of 24%. The data on inflation in this country dates back almost 40 years and energy prices have never ran as high.

I am particularly disappointed that in this budget and Finance Bill there is very little or nothing for those households who do not qualify for the winter fuel allowance but must face extortionate increases in their utility costs. In particular, I think about the communities where I live and, indeed, where the Minister for Finance lives in Dublin 7, where 22% of households have homes with a F or G building energy rating, BER. That means those households live in the least energy efficient houses and these houses tend to be occupied by the least well paid or least comfortable of households. We know that the difference in a utility bill for a F or G BER rated 2-bedroom apartment relative to one that is B2 BER rated is €2,500 in a year and for a 3-bedroom, semi-detached house the difference rises to over €3,500 in terms of the annual fuel bills. There was nothing in this budget for those households.The final set of issues that I want to raise today relate to apartment living in this city and across the country. The future of living and development in this city will be in building apartments. The bulk of those hoping to buy or rent new units in the future will be in apartments because of cost, access and proximity to the city. Right now we have two massive problems relating to apartment building. The Finance Bill fails to address them and we will be putting down amendments. The first problem is the bulk-buying of apartments. We had a massive outcry during the summer when it was realised that institutional investors were bulk-buying houses. Bulk-buying of apartments has been going on for years in Dublin and that did not seem to be a problem but the bulk-buying of houses provoked an outcry. This resulted in a change in stamp duty but apartments were excluded. That is going to have a devastating impact for those wanting to buy an apartment in Dublin. There is no incentive now for a developer to build a house in Dublin city because of the stamp duty and planning arrangements. Any developer worth their salt is going to look to build to rent as opposed to building conventional apartments. We are already seeing that. People talk about the lack of supply in Dublin. In the area where I live there is plenty of supply. There are 4,500 co-living, build-to-rent and student accommodation units going through the planning and construction system and only 2,500 conventional apartments. It means there is no access to affordable apartments in the city.

The second problem with regard to apartments relates to construction defects. The Government has spent a lot of time on the mica issue over the past year and rightly so. As the Minister of State knows, the issue of construction defects in apartments in respect of fire safety standards is also significant. I am aware that there is a working group within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and that there will be a report next year. At the very least there could have been a tax relief or tax credit for those who are facing massive remediation costs in respect of construction defects in their apartments. Where I am based in Dublin Central, there are at least six apartment blocks covering 1,000 apartments. Apartment owners are facing costs that have to be met immediately. It is not something for which they can kick the can down the road. I know one apartment block where they are facing a bill of €15,000 that they have to pay between now and Christmas to help to meet the remediation costs of their apartment. The least the Government could have done was ensure that there was a tax relief for those facing such enormous vital costs in the short term.