I should preface my remarks by saying that times have certainly changed. Deputy Noonan, the main Opposition spokesman, acknowledged that inflation is spiralling down-wards. Deputy Taylor wondered how the fruits of this marvellous growth would be distributed in society while Deputy Rabbitte welcomed what he described as the building boom. This is in stark contrast to the position which obtained a few short years ago.
We are all aware that the last Fine Gael-Labour Government doubled the national debt, that there was a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness not just in the economy generally but among the young and their parents who watched emigration and unemployment figures go through the roof. Yes, times have changed but this is not to say that everything in the garden is rosy or, that we are now in an idyllic position but it would be fair to say that we have advanced considerably from the misery that was being experienced up to the time Fianna Fáil came to power as a minority government in February 1987.
Many critics of the Government argue for quicker movement in the area of taxation. This is but a pipedream. The progress which has been made to date is significant, not least in this Finance Bill. The reduction in the standard rate of income tax to 30 per cent and the reduction in the top rate to 53 per cent are further advances that have been sought for several years in the reform of the taxation system. This Government and the previous one are the only Governments to have made signficant progress in this regard in recent years. The reduction in the standard rate of corporation tax to 40 per cent will be of benefit in terms of job creation in the services sector.
The extension of the period to the year 2010 during which the 10 per cent rate for manufacturing will apply is to be welcomed as also is the extension to 1993 of the period during which the urban renewal package will apply. We welcome, too, the reduction in the standard rate of VAT, the changes in stamp duties to further encourage the development of the financial services sector, the abolition of the 60 per cent rate of capital gains tax and the indexation of capital acquisitions tax.
Deputy Noonan said something startling this evening. He indicated his disappointment that the number of package holidays being taken were down saying that it reflected a slowing of growth in the economy. As late as yesterday evening I was reading a magazine printed by Irish Rail which boasted that over the last number of years there was tremendous growth in the domestic holiday market so far as Irish holidaymakers were concerned. The number of package holidays taken abroad may be down but the number of people taking holidays in Ireland has increased significantly.
The amount of employment created by the private sector over the last number of years could have been greater. It would, however, be unfair to ignore the fact that there has been an improvement in the employment situation and that a constant effort is being made by the Government to create employment wherever possible. The provisions in this Finance Bill will assist this further and I am delighted about that.
Deputy Noonan referred to the Governor of the Central Bank who said that the budget was too soft. The Governor of the Central Bank is, of course, entitled to his opinion. Deputy Taylor would say that the budget was too hard. Somewhere in between there has to be an answer. One cannot say that the budget was too soft and then oppose measures which are aimed at correcting the public finances at every opportunity. One cannot have it both ways. Similarly Deputy Taylor cannot call for vast increases in social welfare and at the same time oppose every reasonable effort to lay a foundation stone of some relevance for the economy. He cannot have it both ways. One cannot criticise the Government for doing something while being unwilling to support the Government when they try to do what is necessary to achieve what one wanted.
It has been a disappointment that with the strengthening of the Irish pound the value of goods in the shops has not come down appreciably. It is wonderful that we are starting to talk about falling prices. Multinational companies and multi-chain supermarkets have, however, more than a commercial obligation, they have a social obligation as well. It is incumbent on them to deal honestly with customers and to charge the prices which should be charged, taking into account the strength of the Irish pound today against other currencies. Not to do so would be amoral and this needs to be brought home to them as a matter of urgency. In an ideal world these retailers would reduce the prices themselves but if they are unwilling to do so the legislation will have to be passed to force them to do what is right.
The low inflation which has been created by the Government is to be greatly welcomed but this could not have happened without the co-operation of the social partners. Co-operation between the social partners and the Government is the ideal way forward, and I hope the Minister and his colleagues will be successful in negotiating a further period of growth with the social partners.
Deputy Noonan painted a picture of gloom and doom in many areas of the economy. This is not reflected on the ground. There is, of course, continuing concern about the level of unemployment and emigration but any fair observer would say that the level of progress by the last two Governments compares favourably with the performance of the earlier Government. That Government had no overall plan. They did not seem to have any ideas or, if they did, they did not appear to be able to implement them. That is probably the reason for the despair the country fell into during their reign.
Opposition Deputies of the left, what I would call the extreme left, often try to polarise Fianna Fáil as a right wing party. We heard it again this evening when Deputy Taylor spoke about the poor and said they were not being treated fairly in the budget or by this Bill which implements the budget. Neither Deputy Taylor nor any other Deputy has a monopoly on concern for the poor. I have no doubt but that Deputy Carey sitting opposite is every bit as concerned about the poor as Deputy Taylor or I. However, one can talk about economic efficiency being balanced by social equity only when one has an economy which has grown sufficiently to enable social equity. Economic efficiency and social equity go together like a horse and carriage. Nothing causes polarisation of society or increasing inequality more than a country which is failing to have growth in its economy and wealth.
This Government have laid the foundation stone in this and previous Bills to enable the poor to share as much as is humanly possible in the growth that has taken place in recent years. It would be remiss of me not to remind Deputy Taylor that much of the major social legislation dealing with the poor since the foundation of this State was introduced by Fianna Fáil. Nobody has a monopoly on concern for the underprivileged.
Having said that, it is wonderful to hear Deputy Taylor admit that the goalposts have changed and that now it is a question of how the cake is to be divided; there was no cake to divide when Labour were in Government between 1982 and 1987. It is wonderful to hear Opposition Deputies speak of growth in this manner and it is of course a wonderful tribute to the Minister for Finance.
I am concerned about descriptions which were used this evening such as business gurus. If there were not business gurus — I assume the word was used disparagingly and I object to it — there would be no business and if there was no business there would be no employment. It would be as well for some people to remember that the business of Government is Government and the business of busness is business. Reference has been made to the fact that there is an antipublic-sector bias and that the public sector companies must be allowed to make independent decisions. I sincerely hope the decisions referred to are not of the ilk which An Post, in their wisdom, reached recently, to close down 300 sub-post offices around the country.
At various stages in the short history of the State rationalisation of State and semi-State services hit rural areas hardest. Small national schools which were at the nerve centre of rural communities were closed down not in the interests of education but in the name of rationalisation. Another semi-State company affected is the one dealing with railways. Railway lines leading through and passing the most breath-taking scenery in the world have been taken up. This was not done in the interests of rural communities which were decimated by emigration but in the holy name of rationalisation. The decision of An Post to close up to 300 sub-post offices around the country was the major element of plans to end financial losses in An Post. They are dangling the carrot in front of proprietors of suboffices in rural areas. This heralds the end of one of the last bastions of rural Ireland. It is wrong and is fundamentally unfair. The rural sub-office is not just a means of communication with the outside world or a convenient place to draw one's old age pension or welfare entitlement; it is a meeting place and a way of life. An Post should pick on someone their own size.
There are other inequities in Irish life which it would be difficult for a city bureaucrat to understand. This is what I will describe as the distance factor. This means that the further you are from the centre the more you pay, even for a simple telephone call. The system of charges applied by Telecom Éireann is a disincentive and a positive disencouragement to industry and business in rural Ireland. There is an urgent need for a more equitable system of charges. I acknowledge that semi-State companies have a commercial obligation but they also have a social obligation and they must not be allowed to make their pound of flesh on the backs of the vulnerable. That has happened far too often in the past and the consequence was a creeping erosion which ultimately robbed Ireland's peripheral regions of its youth. We cannot seriously call upon the EC to give us special status on the grounds of our peripherality if we allow Goliaths like An Post to wield their big stick at our own peripheral regions.
The speech of Deputy Rabbitte was a revelation. He acknowledged the boom in the construction industry and unquestionably there has been a substantial improvement in the construction sector as a result of Government policies. Without doubt the construction industry is going through one of its better periods, having been years in the doldrums in the early eighties. Indeed there was a belief that it could not come back but back it has come. I understand it was a former Taoiseach, Seán Lemass, who said he could tell the state of the economy by the number of bags of cement sold in a given year. Unquestionably there has been a substantial improvement in this area and that improvement has been transferred in particular to the tourist industry. It has to be remembered that throughout the early eighties, during the period of the Fine Gael Coalition Government, not only was tourism stagnating but it was showing a slight decline in this country at a time when it was increasing all over the world. Projections at that time foretold a 95 per cent increase in tourism but Ireland's share of the market stagnated or declined and that was a great pity. It is marvellous that this Government and the previous Government changed the policy and went into the marketplace to sell rather than hide behind telephones in semi-State offices.
I have watched the growth in my own constituency which is considerd to be the primary tourist resort in this country. New hotels have been erected in Killarney; millions of pounds are being invested in a hotel in Kenmare; in their first venture into northern Europe, Club-Med and Ryanair are investing £5 million in Waterville; domestic holidays, as I have already said, have increased; new golf courses are proposed at Killarney, Killorglin and Castlegregory; and the Cork-Swansea ferry has returned. There has been a substantial advance in this industry. The best year ever in Irish tourism was 1989. Never before was such a large number of tourists seen in the country. It is an outstanding tribute to the Government and to all those involved in the industry that this should have happened when it was believed that it could not be done. Many of the things which people believed could not be done have been achieved by this Government.
Perhaps one of the most innovative and imaginative approaches of this Government and the previous Government was their investment in regional airports. Few would have believed a short few years ago that many of these airports would become the success that they ultimately became. Even what was described by an Opposition Deputy, who was then a Minister, as a foggy bog has become one of the leading airports in the country. The Government gave a grant of £1.25 million towards Farranfore Airport, which lay dormant for years, and that amount was quickly matched by the business community in County Kerry. Between June and December 1989, 49,000 passengers passed through the terminals at Farranfore and projections for 1990 are that 100,000 passengers will pass through the terminals there. Is this not what one could only describe as a metamorphosis of gigantic proportions? It is symbolic of the success of this Government in so many areas of our national life. I would like to call on the Government to provide the airport company with the necessary structural funds to enable them to make Farranfore an international airport. An airport which only housed hang gliders could become a national airport in less than three years and that is a remarkable performance. When planes are flying in and out of Farranfore to every European City, even Deputy Carey would be welcome to utilise the facility.
The integrated rural development programme was the most innovative ever to emanate from the Department of Agriculture and Food. It, like everything else, requires funding and I sincerely hope that at the next available opportunity a Finance Bill will provide for such funding. There is a possibility of the rejuvenation of rural communities, especially those on the periphery, but funding is required to enable it to be successful.
Possibly the best type of industry for rural Ireland is in the financial services area. I compliment the Minister for Finance on making Killorglin, a small town in my constituency, arguably the headquarters of the Irish technological industry. The decentralisation of the prize bonds to the Foreign Exchange Company of Ireland based in Killorglin, County Kerry, led to the creation of many jobs in three separate small towns in the region.
Financial service industries are not dependent on transport because communications are now far easier due to the introduction of fibre optic cable in places like County Kerry. Half the installation there has already been completed. I would encourage the development of that kind of industry in the west. It is the answer to many of the unemployment problems and I would strongly urge the Minister to continue the wonderful work he has done in this area by providing the necessary infrastructure and encouraging the IDA to site these types of industry in areas which are far from the centre.
I now refer to the submission by the ICMSA regarding the tax allowance for farm families. The ICMSA argue that the Government decision to propose a current year basis of assessment for farmers and other self-employed people removes the justification put forward in 1980 when the PAYE allowance was introduced. The then Minister stated that the purpose of the PAYE allowance was to take account of the fact that the self-employed generally have the advantage of paying tax on the basis of the previous year. They point out that the Commission on Taxation recommended that when all taxpayers were brought on to a current year basis of assessment taxpayers should receive the same overall personal allowances regardless of the schedule under which they are assessed. On behalf of farm families I would urge the Minister to ensure that an appropriate amendment is adopted in this Bill to cater for farm families. It would be an advantage to them and it would appear to be equitable and fair that they should be treated in this manner.
Emigration is still a very serious problem. While the figures have fallen since the period in office of the Fine Gael-Labour Coalition Government, there is a lot to be done. I have received complaints from young Irish people seeking American visas during the past year or more. These complaints, if true, need to be addressed. Some young people say that they are not being treated courteously when they apply for visas, or rather when the interviewing process takes place. They say that the interviewing at times appears to take the form of interrogation. People who wish to emigrate voluntarily or involuntarily or who wish to take holidays in the United States are entitled to be treated with dignity at all times. Human dignity must always be respected. If the complaints are true I sincerely hope the necessary action will be taken by the appropriate authorities to ensure that young Irish people are treated with the dignity they unquestionably deserve.
There is a need for greater incentives for those working in the public sector. For several years there has been a brain drain from the public sector and very often people with the very best talent move to the private sector, with consequent loss to the State. Some system will have to be introduced which will ensure that initiative, imagination and ability are recognised. That is in the interests of the State and of people.
Finally, I refer to the taxation of wards of court. I understand there are about 110 such people in the country, many of whom are greatly disabled. Is it fair that people in this position should have their profits taxed in the same manner as able bodied people? I believe it is not and that their plight should be looked at sympathetically by the Government.
We cannot say that everything in the garden is absolutely rosy but certainly things are beginning to bloom.
