Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Therefore, one cannot get the exemption at this point in time. By the end of December 2018, however, five years will have elapsed so one will get the exemption. That means the provision incentivises the investor to sit on the vacant land, to do nothing with it even though we are in the middle of a housing crisis and hold it for another year because it is of major financial benefit to the owner and its shareholders, due to a 20% exemption on the dividend withholding tax on the gains that are realised on the property. Let us remember this is property that was bought by investors in 2013. Can the Minister of State tell me the uplift in property prices from 2013 to 2017? There has been a dramatic increase in prices. This is why there is now a huge incentive for these companies to stash land.

The provision, in terms of ending the CGT dividend withholding tax exemption, is the right thing to do and we argued for it last year. By not allowing it to kick in for another year the Government is incentivising a cohort of investors who invested during the period 2013 to 2014 to continue to hoard residential properties and apartment blocks and units that were bought by NAMA. I refer to the conversation that was in the reply to the freedom of information request.