Speech on Finance Bill 2013 – 21/02/13

This Bill before us today, the Finance Bill 2013, is a welcome development as it seeks to address the difficulties being experienced in many SMEs throughout the country in a meaningful way. The SMEs are the single most important sector in our economy and benefit every town village and parish by creating employment and providing services in parts of Ireland where multi nationals are noticeable only by their absence. The protection of this sector at this period in our restructuring programme and the provision of measures capable of addressing arising problems and needs within it, is the responsibility of Government and I’m delighted to see the Finance Minister attend to his responsibilities in this regard.

The constituency I represent is one which depends totally on the SME sector for employment due to the reluctance of the IDA to engage with areas of lower population and the SME sector in Cavan/Monaghan is one of the most vibrant and progressive in the country. For this reason I welcome the 10 point tax reform plan aimed at supporting this sector. The agriculture business is one which again has come to life and to the aid of our struggling economy and for so long this sector had been the shrinking violet of a past age, with farmers finding it difficult to interest their youth in taking over farms. There has thankfully been an enormous change in this area and we are now seeing a new generation stepping into the breach and it is very encouraging to see the Minister bring forward packages in this Bill to smooth the transition and encourage modernisation and the introduction of a modern way of farming to this sector which has enormous potential to a country with a reputation for quality produce at a time when world focus is being targeted on the procurement of quality food.

 

Unemployment is undoubtedly a major factor in today’s society no more so than in my home constituency of Cavan Monaghan. The package of measures contained in this Bill designed to support small and medium businesses could not be more welcome. I also welcome Minister Noonan’s decision to extend the Employment and Investment Incentive and the Seed Capital Scheme for a further seven years. The benefits of these schemes can be seen throughout Ireland and in particular in Cavan and Monaghan and I would hope that other small and medium enterprises would be encouraged to take up this funding while it is available. It should also be noted and applauded that Minister Noonan has extended the employment and investment scheme to the Hotel sector. This will hopefully motivate the owners of hotels and other such guest accommodation to secure the funding to carry out any necessary repairs and maintenance work on their properties. The tourism industry is vital to the economy and it currently provides 190,000 jobs or 11% of total employment in the country. The Cavan Monaghan area has benefitted from a large number of tourists coming to the area over the past couple of years to partake in their numerous festivals and I would anticipate that when we welcome back our diaspora for the Gathering that they will find reasonably priced accommodation in an excellent state of repair.

 

The provisions of Section 19 are to be applauded. The extension of stock relief until the end of 2015 will greatly benefit the farming community especially those in my own constituency of Cavan Monaghan. The inclusion of beef and sheep partnerships will benefit a number of farmers who had unnecessarily lost out on this relief. This also reaffirms and incentivises the benefits of education to young farmers and may encourage them to seek out the grants which would enable them to pursue education. Young farmers need to be nurtured and kept in Ireland to help secure the future of the farming sector which is a vital and integral part of the economy. Any financial assistance extended to young farmers is money well spent in my view.

 

Another Section of the Bill which is important to the farming community is Section 46 which deals with the restructuring of the capital gains tax. Tax relief will now be available to farmers where the proceeds of a sale of farmland are reinvested for restructuring purposes. Exchanges of farmland are also to be included. Of course all such sales and exchanges will be certified by Teagasc who will confirm that such transactions were made for the purposes of farm restructuring. This provision should also assist those involved in the thriving agri-foods sector who will now have an opportunity to consolidate and implement more efficient farming systems. It is vitally important that farmers are made aware that the scheme is only scheduled to run until 2015 so that any plans may be considered in the near future.  

 

I very much welcome Section 48 and 49 of the Bill which provides for repayments for auto-diesel used in the course of business by qualifying road haulage and bus operators. I am happy to see that Minister Noonan has extended this relief to bus operators and hopefully this provision will alleviate the some of the pressures associated with running businesses dependent on auto-diesel. I know that this sector has suffered greatly as a result of the cost of auto-diesel, their main input.  I would hope that the relief may incentivise the bus operators to provide new routes and in particular to provide more services to the rural communities particularly in Cavan Monaghan. We hope to welcome a large number of tourists to our country in 2013 as part of the Gathering and it would be a great indictment of this country if our bus transport were in plentiful supply.