Vol. 378 No. 7
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the Government's intentions in relation to the completion of the EC internal market; and whether it is intended that Ireland will seek any derogation in that respect when that completion takes place in 1992.
55.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if the Government have any plans to ensure that Ireland will be able to participate fully in the internal market by 1992; if there are such plans, when he expects to announce them; and, if there are no such plans if he will make them as a matter of urgency.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 55 together.
As Minister with overall responsibility for the co-ordination of the administrative arrangements with a view to the completion of the internal market by 1992, I am very conscious of the need for all sectors of the Irish industrial and services community to be fully aware of the opportunities and challenges which this event will present.
Indeed, I will continue to avail of every appropriate opportunity to highlight the imminence of this event to the appropriate promotional and representative bodies.
I have also been exploring how best to supplement and intensify this information process so at to ensure that the business community will be fully prepared to exploit the opportunities which realisation of the internal market will present.
The Government have decided to initiate an awareness campaign that will be launched by the Taoiseach this summer.
There is no question of seeking a derogation from the principle of the completion of the internal market. In areas where we have difficulties such as those in relation to harmonisation of indirect taxes and liberalisation of capital movements, we will be seeking for appropriate arrangements to safeguard the national interest.
I would like the Minister of State to confirm one point he made in his answer. Is there now a coordinating committee among various Government Departments, for example, Finance, Industry and Commerce, Education and Foreign Affairs, set up to study the implications of the internal market?
Yes, there is a coordinating group under the Taoiseach's Department dealing with our preparations for the completion of the internal market.
Do they represent interests in other Departments? For example, are we now going to pursue the teaching of foreign languages between now and 1992 or is it solely in the business area?
They are under the Taoiseach's Department under the co-ordination of the Minister of State, Deputy Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, with the Minister of State acting as chairman of a group representative of a number of Departments all seeking to make sure that Irish industry is fully aware and prepared for 1992. The Deputy will be aware that a number of matters which come before the internal market are not all industrial and promotional but generally they are of a business nature.
In view of the fact that the main difficulty facing us in 1992 would be the harmonisation of the indirect taxes, would the Minister of State not agree that unless there is a phased programme towards harmonisation, we will inevitably be forced towards large scale variegations in 1992 and a programme of phased reductions should be announced at this stage, targets set by ourselves?
I agree entirely with the Deputy. That is our approach to many of the items of the programme. The Deputy will recall that an EC White Paper published some time ago listed some 300 items the EC were seeking to harmonise. We made it clear in a number of cases, including the case I mentioned, the tax harmonisation area, that we have to move very slowly with that and be very careful about it. We have to be careful in a number of areas but the previous Government and this Government have made that very plain. We are for the principle of the internal market. In a number of areas it is important to be sensitive to Ireland's demands. One of those areas was mentioned by the Deputy and we are sensitive about it.
If we are anxious to participate fully in the internal market by 1992 we must at this stage have a phased programme towards that full participation and it is incumbent on the Government to announce details of a phased programme so that the country knows exactly what faces us between now and then.
Of course I agree. The difficulty is that with the EC changing Presidencies every six months you find different Presidencies have different priorities and among the proposals of 300 or so originally laid out priorities change. Therefore, it is difficult for any Government here to be very specific in regard to what proposals might come forward in the immediate future. In so far as we know the ones immediately coming forward, we will take appropriate steps to deal with any one in that area that affects the national interest.
Will they be announced to the country?
They have been. There is a whole list of them.
I am not aware of it.
There are over 300 proposals. For example, I dealt with the insurance one personally some time ago and that was all over the financial pages of the newspapers. We have been talking about tax harmonisation for cars and for alcohol and standardisation of VAT rates. That has received wide media coverage. If the Deputy wishes to get a list of those currently being pursued——
How do we propose to standardise the VAT rate? We have no idea.
That is a major question which I am not going to respond to here, but if the Deputy wishes to have a list of items which the internal market are currently dealing with I will make it available to him.
Is it not true that harmonisation of taxes can take place only by a unanimous decision at Council and not by majority decision, and the EC recognise that we insisted on that because of the very great difficulty it presents for this country?
I understand the position to be as the Deputy outlines it. We will continue to make it clear that we are not in a position to move in that area without some understanding in a very tangible sense from the EC.
Question No. 9. A final supplementary from Deputy Kennedy.
Given there are only four budgets between now and 1992, I support Deputy Cooney in his request that the Government spell out step by step what moves industry has to prepare itself for here in the next four years. For example, has any work been done on the equalisation of excise duties which will have huge effects?
Rather than get into a debate on the internal market, I have announced today that the Taoiseach will launch an information programme in the summer——
It is very late.
——and from then on we will be going full steam. I have been doing a great deal of work in that area, bringing the difficulties to the attention of Irish business people. I take Deputy Cooney's suggestion that we try to publish a clearer list. There is a list which has received substantial coverage. It is not simply a matter of putting dates behind each proposal because some of those dates are outside our control.
Would the Minister of State be interested in the proposal made by Commissioner Sutherland that an all-party group composed of representatives here and representatives of various business and economic interests be brought together to promote the matter? In view of its national significance this should not be left exclusively in the hands of the Government of the day.
I am pleased to welcome the suggestion that we involve the broader community. The Minister for Industry and Commerce and I have repeatedly invited Irish industry, the representative bodies on the trade union side and other areas of Irish life to involve themselves in bringing to the public the information necessary from their point of view. We will be looking for the widest possible involvement of all sections of the community including Members from the parties opposite. However, the Deputy will appreciate that at the end of the day the Government have to take their own decisions in this matter.
(Limerick East): Is the Minister aware that the harmonisation of VAT rates in 1992 or subsequently and the movement towards a standard rate of VAT would involve a single rate between 17 and 18 per cent on all items including items at present exempt and food?
I am aware that the present proposals are not acceptable because of figures like the Deputy suggests. I am not clear whether his figures are correct, but they are of that order. There would be difficulties for us. A figure has been quoted many times that immediate agreement to the proposals could cost the nation between £300 million and £500 million and from a budgetary point of view that is not on, as we have made quite clear.
