Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I'll say one example to you. It was in around the period I'm talking about. The tax relief that was given to investors of residential property gave a more favourable position to somebody who in terms of tax relief who was actually trying to buy a home or if they were trying to trade up or whatever.

So the mortgage for an investor in the buy-to-let sector was cheaper for a mortgage than a person who was trying to buy a home through the tax reliefs. Now, if somebody was competing in the market to buy a home, and you have a first-time buyer or an existing homeowner trying to trade up, they're competing with somebody who has an additional edge on them because their tax relief is actually greater.