First, I thank the Deputies who have contributed to the debate. It proved to be such a wide-ranging debate that it is difficult to confine one's reply. I have sat here for all of the speeches since the introduction of Second Stage and I found it difficult to follow a lot of the reasoning of the speakers from the Opposition benches. They made an effort to claim that the Bill was not properly named the Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Bill. Of course it is properly named and if such legislation were not passed by the House many people would not be getting the relief that this Bill is giving to them. That is the purpose of the Bill, but in the discussion here we went up boreens and into farm buildings, barley fields, machinery and PAYE. I could only think that the Opposition must be trying to take the minds of some people away from what is contained in this Bill.
Rates relief of course has been provided over the years by a series of temporary Acts and the last of these expired on 31 December last. If there were no Bill there would be no relief. That is what the Bill is all about, and it is as simple as that. The primary purpose of the Bill, therefore, is to authorise the payment of £37.7 million for the relief of rated occupiers of the land and it is well worthwhile as far as ratepayers are concerned. They would not like us to get away from that fact and nothing said here by Opposition speakers will succeed in taking away from the smallholders the knowledge of the relief that they are getting under this Bill. Rightly, they will welcome the Bill.
Deputy Fitzpatrick asked me when the agricultural grant was introduced first. The agricultural grant was introduced first in 1898 and that is quite a long time ago. Deputy Fitzpatrick then went on to talk about the Fianna Fáil manifesto and the promises contained therein. Again he introduced matters other than rates. I wish to confine my remarks to rates and to point out to the House and to Deputy Fitzpatrick that every line in that manifesto which applied to rates has been fully honoured, that the benefits promised have all been delivered. We have had the derating of domestic dwellings, of farm buildings, of community halls and secondary schools. All of these benefits have accrued to the people and no words of Deputy Fitzpatrick or of anybody else in Opposition will succeed in confusing this fact. Indeed if they endeavour to confuse it we shall continue to bring home to the people the benefits they have derived from that manifesto particularly in so far as rates are concerned.
There was the intimation also of how much money the Exchequer will be saved by this Bill. That could be put the other way round: how much relief taxpayers will be given under this Bill. I would estimate that relief to taxpayers will be £6 million in 1980 but that does not mean that the grant will be £6 million less than in 1979. In fact the grant is approximately £37.725 million in 1980 as against £39.8 in 1979. Those figures should put the record straight in that regard.
I should like to remind the House also that the record of Fianna Fáil in regard to rates is one of which we are particularly proud because it was we who introduced derating of smallholders. I think it was Deputy Quinn who mentioned the year 1920 when asking me about derating. There was no derating of agricultural land at that time. Deputy Quinn and other speakers also suggested that next year we might see the introduction of a Bill lowering yet again the threshold from £40 valuation to £30, or even lower. This Bill provides that the ceiling will be £40 valuation for three years, including this year. Therefore farmers in that bracket can be assured that that threshold will not be lowered in that period. It was Fianna Fáil who introduced the derating of small farmers of £20 valuation and under by relieving them of all rates on land. This Bill continues the full derating of these smallholders. I do not think the Opposition would like to be seen to be objecting to that. In fact land holdings of less than £20 valuation represent almost 80 per cent of all rated occupiers of agricultural land. Relief to this category will absorb almost £22.8 million of the total relief of £37.7 million. Therefore all the comments we have heard about the small farmer and small landowner being penalised under this Bill surely must go by the board in view of those facts.
Deputy Fitzpatrick and Deputy O'Brien advanced the argument that because relief was being excluded for farmers with higher valuations they were being asked to pay for domestic derating. This is simply not the case. Farmers, like all domestic ratepayers, have been relieved of rates on their dwellings. Also, farmers were given the additional benefit of having their outbuildings derated since 1978. A conservative estimate of the annual cost of this would be over £11 million, a considerable sum of money given by way of relief from which farmers as well as other sections of the community have benefited.
Deputy L'Estrange expressed concern about the jump in liability of a farmer with £40 valuation as against one with a valuation of £39. I should like to put the record straight here. A farmer on £39 valuation receives the benefits of the reliefs but not full derating; he will pay rates on £17.30 of that valuation and the State, through the grant, pays the balance. The farmer with a valuation of £40 is liable for full rates but his dwellinghouse and outbuildings are now fully derated, which is of considerable benefit to him. Needless to say we did not have mention of these things by Opposition speakers here this morning.
Then we had Deputy L'Estrange saying that 929 more farmers in Westmeath would lose relief and 361 in Longford. Putting that the other way round, it is a fact that 7,386 holdings in Longford and 11,179 in Weatmeath are fully derated because they are under £20 valuation. Again, we are dealing with the vast majority of ratepayers in both counties, as indeed we are throughout the country —in Longford there will be a further 1,096 and in Westmeath an additional 1,576 with valuations under £33, with a complete derating on the first £20 of their valuations. Tremendous relief is being given small farmers under this Bill. Because of this I can understand why Opposition Deputies were taking us up boreens, into outbuildings, barley fields, PAYE machinery and so on in order to detract from these facts in people's minds but we shall continue to remind them.
I should tell Deputy Griffin that under the provisions of this Bill 6,312 rated landholders in south Tipperary will continue to be fully derated and a further 1,518 holdings in south Tipperary will receive full relief on the first £20 valuation. The valuations of those latter holdings range between £20 and £33. In North Tipperary the full derating applies to 7,825 holdings and the full derating on the first £20 applies to 1,992 holdings.
This Bill is properly named because of the reliefs it will mean for our small farmers. We are proud of our record in regard to the derating of those who need this relief most. So far as income tax is concerned, those farmers who do not have to pay this tax have nothing to worry about. I doubt if the Opposition could be sincere in regard to the relief being given by way of this Bill to the small farmers.