Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions. I have taken copious notes of what each Member said and I will bring them back directly to the two Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and McGrath. I know Members will be discussing some of the expenditure measures in more detail immediately ahead. I want to touch on the comments people made. Some of them were repeated and some people had different angles on the same topic, which is fair.

Senator Casey said the reason we could do this today is because of the good management of the economy in recent years. Somebody pointed out that what is happening in relation to packages in other countries is all on borrowed money. Not a penny is being borrowed to finance what is being done here today. That is an extraordinary achievement for any country anywhere in the world. It is an example of how well the economy was managed during Covid. We kept businesses alive and pumped money into them, so when Covid was over, their employees were still on hand and they all came back to work. We now have 2.5 million people in the workforce. The hospitality industry is suffering, as we speak, trying to recruit staff. Things have gone a full circle in that regard. Obviously, the main issue that was mentioned was VAT in the hospitality sector. All I can do is repeat that the Minister said today that the current rate will continue until 28 February 2023. He did not say anything more or less. He did not say it was going to stop before then or that it will go on beyond that. He just used one specific date. That is where we are for the next five months. Senator Casey raised that issue.

Senator McDowell raised the issue of VAT on newspapers, which many people said needs a long discussion. On property, there is the new vacant home tax. In particular, he felt self-assessment was the issue. That was mentioned by another Senator as well. Somebody suggested it would make a joke of the system, because who would own up to pay a tax? This tax was based on houses that are in the local property tax net already. Revenue has been clear in following up on houses around the country it believes are habitable but were not in the property tax net in the past two years. It has a comprehensive list that is different from what may be coming from the census of population, where somebody calls once or twice over a couple of weeks and finds no one there. The Revenue Commissioners list is the most accurate. Somebody queried the local authorities did not do as well. Simply, I have great confidence in Revenue. Its people are the best to collect money in Ireland. The local property tax is self-assessment and the rate is almost 100%. Income tax in this country is self-assessment and the rates are very high. The idea of saying we do not trust the people to do their tax return sounds like a popular thing to say. However, in reality, it does not bear any truth when 97% or 98% of people operate the self-assessment situation because they know they are subject to audit, which keeps people on the straight and narrow. Self-assessment is the way to go on that.

Senator McDowell asked about over-the-shop allowance as well, which was mentioned by Senator Maria Byrne in respect of Limerick in particular. She also highlighted the issue that people would now not pay the top rate of tax until €40,000. I mentioned the rental credit and the issue of the rollover relief for young farmers.

Senator Gavan raised the issue of energy costs. Definitely, there are mixed views in the House around the three €200 payments and how much we get before Christmas. There is the situation where some will get it through their bill and others who have meters and do a top-up can get it on a more ongoing basis every time they top up. The specifics of that have yet to be worked out.

On the issue of rental credit, again, there always an element of truth in what people say, such as that it does not cover everything and landlords can continue to put up the rent on existing tenants. Of course, most people know that most areas now are rent pressure zones and that cannot and does not happen. Again, it is an easy thing to say.