Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of stamp duty, something that has been raised in the committee - and in the Chamber for quite a period as the Finance Bill was going through these Houses - was the estimation that the Department is putting on the increase to 6% of commercial stamp duty. The IFAC report refers to overly optimistic forecasts in that regard. We have seen from others that €9.4 billion of transactions would be required. Some experts in the field suggest that it could be half that amount. We also note that the Department has introduced an exemption where 25% of residential property, if it is part of this scheme, will be exempt from the higher 6%. Has IFAC done any calculations on by how much the Department is overestimating the receipts from the increase in commercial stamp duty? Is IFAC concerned about that exemption? Despite that 75% of it would be commercial, if one has got a couple of luxury apartments at the top of a development down in the docks, one would only be paying the lower rate of stamp duty. While appalling, that is for another day. In terms of the hole that could emerge in the public finances, has IFAC done any calculations? Is it far off the €376 million that the Department has estimated?