Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let us suppose a fund bought massive amounts of land from NAMA during January 2013. Can the Minister of State at the Department of Finance explain why it would decide to dispose of that land now, when the Government is indicating, through the Finance Bill, that if it holds on to the land for another 12 months, it will not pay the 20% dividend withholding tax on the gains relating to it? Does the Minister of State not understand that if I represented the fund and he were speaking to me, the policy is encouraging me, if I have the interests of my shareholders at heart, to hold on to this land for a further 12 months? We hear all the words from Ministers and the Taoiseach on the floor of the Dáil when they are doing soundings and so on about the property crisis. However, this is what it boils down to: the Government is engineering into the Finance Bill an incentive to hoard land.

The Government cannot have it both ways. I want the Minister of State to acknowledge that he is doing this with his eyes wide open. If the Government wants to push ahead with it, that is fair enough – I cannot stop him. We are not strong enough or well represented enough in this committee to do so. However, it is my responsibility to at least ensure that the Minister for Finance and the members of the committee who vote for, against or abstain in respect of this measure understand the exact consequences of it.