Finance Bill 2022: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2022-11-29 ============================================================ Maria Byrne (FG), Agricultural Panel I welcome the Minister of State here this evening to discuss the all-important issue of the Finance Bill and the budget for 2023. The aim of the budget is to put more money back in people's pockets with measures, as the Minister of State outlined, such as cutting income tax, increasing pension payments and increasing welfare payments for families, people with disabilities and carers. I welcome those measures because many people are marginalised. Some people do not become ill through their own fault and end up on invalidity or disability. They would love to be able to get up and go out to work. It is important that we look after people who genuinely fall on hard times. I pay tribute to the carers who look after family members or friends and help to keep them at home in their own environment. Certainly, that helps in terms of longevity. The population is living longer and it is down to the work of carers. The Bill is also aimed at families. We have heard about the squeezed middle for many years. For young families, there is the cost of services such as childcare. The budget is a start towards bringing down such costs. It is also about giving payments to families. The reduction in college fees will help many older students as they are going to colleges. There is something I would like the Minister of State to look at. While I am aware that there is a reduction in student fees, if one has two or three children, it is still the same reduction. I refer to those who have three people in college at the one time. I met a family recently and they have three children in college. They receive nothing extra for having three. It is quite expensive to have three. They are all in different colleges, which, I suppose, does not help. Some of them are travelling to where they were because of what they are studying. It is something that the Minister of State might be able to look at. One of the important measures is the help for businesses. Businesses are going through such turbulent times. We have got to secure jobs but we have also got to make sure that businesses stay open. Certainly, we have had Covid. We have the war. I welcome the fact that there is money in the closet or in the safe if there is to be another unprecedented situation. The scheme has been operated through the Revenue and has been very successful but we need to ensure that if things go on longer, it will be reviewed in February. I would like a commitment from the Minister of State in that regard. On the energy support grants, I welcome correspondence from Mr. Jennings of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association, CSNA, which represents convenience stores and smaller retailers. Certainly, they are concerned about the costs. I note that a number of their retailers were on the national media recently. Their costs have gone completely through the roof. One store keeper alone received a bill of up to €20,000. It is phenomenal. They are looking at the unit price. Currently, pay is the crux of the problem. They can show that their consumption is responsible and efficient but the multiplier of 57% per unit leads to bills that are 350% higher than 12 months previously. That is hitting many businesses, especially businesses where they have a lot of vans and cooling equipment. There are many businesses in that situation. They understand that the wholesale prices on the international market are declining but these lower prices cannot be availed of and passed on due to a mixture of advance spot contracts and currency calculations. Would the Government be in a position to suggest that it will not allow the energy companies to enjoy super profits from the crisis? The message we need to send out, loud and clear, is that we should demand they immediately reduce the unit prices they currently charge by that level. On domestic bills, I had a phone call from a resident in Limerick yesterday. Two months ago, their bill was €257. They received a bill yesterday. They used fewer units than they had in the previous two months and it is €599. That is an extraordinary increase. The extension of the Living City Initiative is welcome. I live just at the Georgian Limerick area of the city and this scheme is incentivising people to live in the city centre. We still, however, have many buildings derelict. I understand that the Croí Cónaithe scheme and dereliction tax measures are coming in. These are all going to help to incentivise people to live in our city centres. This is most important. Many city centres are suffering the same issues, in that there is not enough footfall and not enough people living in them. I certainly welcome this initiative as a start and it will help landlords. I refer as well to the retrofitting scheme and the provision of a tax relief in respect of carrying out works of this kind. Another issue I would like to raise with the Minister of State, and it is under section 47, concerns the excise duty on tobacco. It is currently illegal for a retailer to sell above the fixed price, yet four different cigarette types are sold at a lower price because they are on special offer. This does not seem to be illegal while the cigarette packets are kept under the counter. It should not be illegal for a retailer to add on 10 cent or 20 cent. It should be up to retailers to charge whatever they want, because if there is a vending machine on the premises the cost is more expensive than the recommended prices. I would like the Minister of State to examine this aspect. Many retailers are curtailed in what they can charge. We are trying to get people to quit smoking, so this may be a win-win situation for all. Overall, though, I welcome this year's budget. It is geared towards families, and young families, and people who may have fallen on hard times. We are also protecting jobs and working towards doing this is to be most welcomed. I would like to get a commitment that the temporary business support scheme, TBESS, if it were to continue in operation for longer in these unprecedented times, will be reviewed in March 2023. Turning to the 0% rate on newspapers and magazines, many newspapers have welcomed this development. We also have, though, news magazines and publications like The Economist and The Financial Times used by businesses. I ask the Minister of State to consider a 0% rate of VAT on these as well because this would be most important. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2022-11-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:20+00:00 Sitting date: 2022-11-29