8. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department is considering any review or potential increase of the VAT registration threshold for the self-employed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64580/25]

Sentiment score: 0.11

I ask this question in the context of how sole traders and self-employed people are struggling right now. I ask in particular what consideration the Tánaiste has given to raising the VAT threshold, especially in the area of services from €42,500 to try to alleviate the administrative burden on these sole traders and self-employed people.

Sentiment score: -0.43

I am asking the Minister to undertake greater exploration of this. One of the reasons for this concerns the impact of inflation. We live in an environment that is constantly changing and it is important to examine these things. I am familiar with the different rates in the EU; some are higher and some are lower. In Britain, for instance, it is the same for goods and services at a straight £90,000 sterling. We need to listen to the self-employed. I try to speak to as many of the self-employed as possible. What they are saying to me is that they find it too low, given where they have to register, and that is also the case when passing it on to consumers. They say it is okay if they are trading with another business, but they might be trading with a vulnerable person or a television repair person trying to fix somebody's television, or something like that. They say that they have to pass this on, although the person in the house might not have a lot of disposable income in the first instance.

Sentiment score: 0.07

I am very supportive of the R and D tax credit. A previous question was asked about our competitiveness. Innovation at all levels of business is very important. I am glad the Minister said it would take €100 million to bring it to €80,000 for services. The Minister may already have this information. If he does, I might ask him another question to try to get information on the position if we were to bring it to, say, €50,000, €60,000 or €70,000. It is worth examining this with regard to how we might change it. We have to remember that one of the other big things is that these people are not allowed to pay the PRSI rate that would enable them to get sickness cover or anything like that. They are often in a very vulnerable situation. I know we cannot just have it for the self-employed and sole traders. However, we need to look at this because supporting small and medium businesses, the self-employed and sole traders is important to our economy.

Sentiment score: 0.23

In parallel to this, it is very important to look at derelict sites that are owned by local authorities. The Tánaiste says this is a big job of work for them, and it absolutely is, but it is critical that we cannot be taxing someone on one side of the street when the local authority has a huge derelict site on the other side of the street and is doing nothing about it. I do not necessarily blame the local authorities. They need to work with the centre. I respect that the Tánaiste is not the Minister for housing, but he is the Tánaiste. That has to be done because even his own councillors on Mayo County Council were raising this issue yesterday. Councillor Ger Deere was raising this in respect of Castlebar. That situation is not tolerable either. There needs to be a fast-tracking of the local authorities' derelict sites to make them into accommodation that can be used in towns. There is also the unsightliness of these sites at a time when we are trying to do urban renewal and make these towns look attractive.

Sentiment score: 0.18