Inheritance tax has been well flagged in the past number of weeks as something that might be considered in the budget. I really hope it will be because the threshold at the moment is quite low regarding what people have to pay capital gains tax on if family members leave them more than €335,000. Even if we make changes to the threshold and increase it to something like €400,000, we still have a problem with the inheritance tax that people have to pay. The problem with it is that normally in these situations people realise they have to pay it quite suddenly after someone dies. A colleague of mine on Laois County Council, Councillor Barry Walsh, meets people on a regular basis in his job who have been put in the position to inherit a house that is perhaps worth €400,000 and find out very quickly they have to pay in excess of €20,000 in inheritance tax.

If you inherit a house in July or August, the inheritance tax has to be paid by 31 October, which leaves very little time for people to have that sum of money available. What happens is people sell the property even though they do not actually want to sell it and want to keep it. Councillor Walsh's suggestion, which is a very good idea, is that there should be an opportunity for people in those positions to make staged payments rather than paying in a lump sum. A lot of the people who sell these properties do not want to sell them. There is an emotional attachment to a family home. They might have a son or daughter who may want to use that family home in a number of years, or perhaps they want to rent it out to a family member, but they cannot do that because they have to pay such a high bill at the very start. As well as changing the threshold, we should look at giving people the opportunity to retain that home by bringing in staged payments.

The Leader will acknowledge the level of supports that have been put in place for businesses over successive budgets. Much of that was absolutely warranted to ensure we protected jobs during Covid and in the context of the increases in the cost of energy over successive winters, which had a huge impact on the viability of businesses. There is still a demand from businesses to look at the VAT rate for their sectors. I appreciate that the full cost of the reduction to 9% for the hospitality, food and catering sectors would be in the order of €764 million. If it were confined just to food and catering, it would be €545 million. I appreciate it is a substantial level of funding but I would ask that the Leader engage with the Minister for Finance. I will engage with Ministers in my own parliamentary party on some changes to the VAT rate for the food, catering and hospitality sectors. Government has rightly protected staff through sick pay and additional bank holidays over recent years, which has put added costs onto businesses. It is the right thing to do but, at the same time, we have to acknowledge that there is a threat to those same businesses in the form of the cost of keeping their doors open. It is important that a support package is put in place. It has been acknowledged that the increased cost of business grant provided substantial funding last year. There is certainly a need, whether it be through VAT, rates or some other means, to ensure businesses are kept viable and jobs are protected over the coming year.