Finance Bill 2024: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2024-10-16
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Richard O'Donoghue (IND), Limerick County

Why does the Government get it wrong all the time? I have a business background and have been self-employed nearly all my life. I have an education in life and in business because I am in business. Why does the Cabinet get it wrong all the time? The Government likes percentage models. How many in the Cabinet are businesspeople or come from the farming or community sector where they have been involved in their communities? The breakdown of the budget explains why the Government gets it wrong all the time, even from the point of view of business, because it does not have the proper people in Cabinet to reflect the whole country. Whether an international business or SMEs, all the Government seems to do is look at the figures and if something does not make up the proper figures, it does not take into account what it means in a community. It is not all about profit; it is about providing amenities in a community.
At the protests yesterday, we saw business owners from around Ireland from the restaurant, pub, hairdressing, coffee shop and retail sectors. They told us the Government is crippling them. They will take the two wage increases, which I welcomed. That is one thing but where do they go? They have a margin to put on so they have to increase their costs. They have insurance costs and increased rates, increased costs of produce and energy and the Government then puts back up the VAT rate by 4.5%. Any businessperson will tell you that he or she has to achieve a 10% to 12% increase in money to make his or her business viable. An international business can sustain that because it has millions and billions of euro in turnover. If a local business has a €1 million turnover, and that is taken into account, it cripples them. The same wage increase the Government has given has been taken back because when that worker goes to the shop, the people had to put up prices across all sectors and give it back but the PRSI contribution comes back to the Government.
If a person wants to buy or build their first house, 36% of their mortgage is tax and 13.5% of the cost of buying a new home is tax. I am hammered if I work to get a mortgage with tax and I am hammered with tax if I go out and support the local community in the food or coffee industry. If I want to build my own home, I am hammered with tax. The Government gets it wrong because it has no proper businesspeople in Cabinet who understand real business in Ireland. That means protecting jobs, communities and people. This is the Government's failure. The Cabinet needs to change; it does not reflect this country or small business. It needs to change.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-10-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:22+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-10-16