This section affects my constituency. I have been consistent about this even on budget day. Submission has been made to the Minister and to other Ministers in this area that this industry was singled out for taxation, when all the other areas of the drink industry were excluded. It was perceived by people involved in investment in this industry that for some reason or other they were chosen for a soft touch. This industry, an indigenous company, employs a lot of people. It is something that we should assist more rather than tax it out of business. It is now much more expensive to drink a pint of cider than a small brandy and I suggest that from the tax point of view we are just penalising the industry. They spoke to the Minister officially last year on the basis that it was a special case and he gave them a letter of comfort to say it would not be done again. The Minister forgot he wrote the letter and this year he has hit them again and nobody else. They are beginning to disbelieve us. I will not object to the section because they accept that a vote took place on this in the Dáil on budget night. I ask the Minister not to pick them out again specifically or I might have to lose my own whip in the process.
SECTION 58.
I would like to support Deputy Ferris on that point. People have approached me about it and asked why should cider be singled out. I support the sentiments expressed by Deputy Ferris.
Could I ask the Minister, in respect of the way the tax base is defined, is it in relation to the alcohol content and is it neutral between cider and beer in terms of alcohol content? What is the base on which he has chosen to levy the taxes?
It is on the basis of alcohol content. There are a number of bands that regulate that. I would hate to do anything to damage my good colleague, Deputy Ferris, but I will tell him I wrote the letter last year. I received an invitation to visit the plant, which I did not get around to doing, but they assured me that they have been trying to change my image of cider drinkers. They assure me that if I visit the plant this summer, which I promised to do, I will have a different concept. I am impressed by cider and perry consumption in recent times. I note that in the nineties, and we are not that much into them, consumption has been rising by an average of 30 per cent for each of the last three years. This is not bad for any product. To be fair to the company and to the image I know they put a lot of work into this. I am also aware that the reason consumption is increasing is that the tax regime is so extraordinarily generous for cider and perry, as against any other particular drink, following the last increase in the budget. At the time, I really thought I was restraining myself to the maximum degree. The most popular category of cider, which is the one that is flying up in the markets, is subject to an excise duty of 17.4p compared to the poison which I allow myself, which is 37.6 per cent for a pint of beer, so I think my case stands.
I will give the Minister some further figures to make him change his drinking habits.
I will visit the plant.