Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Most of the Minister's remarks were about the residential property market rather than the commercial market. The relief only applies in circumstances where the investor holds on to the property for a period of seven years. The big collapse in tax revenues was focused on stamp duty. The 2008 figures show that, from a position where we took in approximately €50 billion in tax on an annualised basis, we dropped by €14 billion in one year. Much of the collapse is attributable to the property market. Nobody is going back to the over-hyped market to which Deputy Pearse Doherty referred, but in a context where the number of transactions is low, everything should be considered to encourage the continued emergence of the positive signs we have seen in the property market. The extension of the scheme for another year is simply aimed at encouraging people to take up these opportunities over a seven year period. I do not think it will over-hype something already in place. We do not have one property market; we have multiple markets, as the Deputy will be aware from his constituency. It is not dissimilar to what is happening in the United Kingdom, where the London property market is very different from what is happening north of a line between Manchester and Birmingham. We have to be conscious of this, but many of the developments of the future will be related to where we locate development, as opposed to the taxation system. Is it good to try to achieve more of a yield in an area which has experienced a cataclysmic reduction in taxes? Yes, it is. Will it help stability? I very much hope it will. However, I would not read too much into it in terms of the series of measures we have taken thus far to achieve more stability and confidence in the property market.