Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Senators for contributing. I will start with Senator Kyne's contribution on the overall tax burden. I completely agree with what he and Senator Garvey said about putting money back in people's pockets. The approach of this Government has been to extend the bands.That is a cost of living measure in itself, supporting families and supporting individuals who have earned money to keep more of that money. Indeed, Senator Warfield talked of mortgage interest relief but perhaps rejects the idea of tax changes, which enable people in the same circumstances to have more money back in their homes at the end of the day. I hope he and his party will support similar extensions to the bands in order that people can have more money on a weekly and monthly basis.

I want to address some of the issues that have been raised by Senators, in particular the point on LPG, which was raised by Senators Casey, Garvey and others. The Senators are right to raise it and it has been raised a number of times over what has been a more difficult winter than others. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, is looking at options for providing assistance to those businesses and will revert to the Government with proposals. The reason it is not being done through this mechanism is that it simply is not possible for Revenue to monitor the usage of oil and LPG in the same way as electricity and metered gas. That does not mean that those people who are using LPG should not have the same benefit as people who are using electricity and gas so, as a consequence, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is determining a scheme to try to provide support to people.

In regard to VAT on hospitality, it was important that businesses were supported through this period to the end of August. The Minister, the Department and I have stated clearly that this is the final extension of the 9% rate. It has been a temporary measure since it was first introduced in 2011, so it has seemed permanent despite one interruption, but this is the final extension in that form. I recognise the Senators’ calls to look holistically at hospitality and how those matters are considered and calculated.

With regard to TBESS, it is fair to say that when this was brought in, we anticipated very high energy prices, which did not necessarily come to pass in the way we anticipated because of a milder than usual winter, which is important. It is also fair to say that the scheme saw a lower level of uptake than initially would have been expected. I certainly was here, highlighting the figures in different counties and encouraging businesses to sign up, so what was wrong with the scheme that people did not take it up or that meant it was not getting the money out? It is always important to look at the implementation of such schemes. It only opened for claims in early December and I think that, given the timeframe of the scheme, businesses may have been waiting for bills, depending on their billing cycles with their suppliers, which is an important consideration. I also believe that thresholds have to be looked at again to make it easier and more attractive. It is very important that Revenue is going to do this work for businesses, rather than businesses having to do it a second time. It is certainly my view that any time the State and its entities can lean in to the citizen, can lean in to people rather than making it inconvenient for people, and do anything to maximise convenience, that is a good thing. I hope businesses will see recalculations and reassessments done for them, and that they will see the benefit of that in terms of moneys being transferred to them in the coming weeks and months, which is very important.

Senators Garvey, Kyne and others highlighted the change in VAT on solar panels. This is highly significant because it is yet another effort to try to help households and businesses, farmers in particular, to be able to invest in solar power and to be able to get that. There are also issues about connecting to the grid, particularly for farmers around the country, and that needs to be resolved.

I want to highlight the role that credit unions can play to try to support people managing the complex process of applying for a grant and perhaps for financing, whether it is bridging financing or additional financing. I want in particular to highlight the work done as a community in Loughrea, where the Naomh Breandan Credit Union has worked with the community to set up an energy area, analysing the needs of the community and conceiving it in a very thoughtful, integrated way, with the credit union in partnership, supporting people as they look for loans at different stages to try to build out their solar capacity. I hope this VAT reduction will be of assistance but that it will also help to counter any increase in prices arising from supply chain issues and from the broader inflationary environment. I believe that is a very important part of this Bill.Senator McDowell raised the broader macroeconomic and fiscal position and highlighted the necessity of considering what to do with a budget surplus. It is a very interesting and important time. Anytime that a government is running a budget surplus is a good time but the question that arises, naturally, is how best we can use that money. What is the most prudent and intelligent way that we can use it? We have a significant national debt and while it has been very well financed by the NTMA, it is still the second highest in the EU. What we have learned from the crash is that we do not want to be an outlier. We do not want to be out on the edges of Europe in respect of our financial position. We were very careful during Covid to make sure that the extra financing that we took on, on behalf of the State, kept us among our comparators, the group within the eurozone that we wanted to be in, and did not leave us a massive outliers. However, where we differ is with regard to our national debt. At €226 billion, or €44,000 per person, it is a source of vulnerability and it is something that we need to be conscious of. Nevertheless, it is well financed by the NTMA at very low cost and it has been well managed. We must consider carefully how we use this money, which we believe is a temporary windfall. We have a pensions issue and a national debt issue going forward.

Senators also spoke about the importance of managing a "hot" economy. They referred to the inflationary environment, the need to put money back into people's pockets and the need to make intelligent capital investment. We have tried to strike that balance very carefully and thoughtfully to date but we must continue to be held to account on that by Senators. It is up to Members of this House to keep our feet to the fire and make sure we are making the right decisions and striking the right balance at all times so that we do not walk ourselves back into the difficulties of the past.