Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is my intention to find out if conclusions can be drawn, based on fact, about whether the activity of these funds is having an effect on different forms of property, particularly properties within our cities. This work is on-going and is a matter I want to look at personally and to understand any effect it may be having. One of the issues I have been looking at is that a large number of these funds act as both buyers and sellers of property. I need to better understand the net effect of their activity on different forms of property. It is my intention that, if I allow for this to be done as part of the tax strategy group, at that point I will have a number of years worth of robust information on the impact they are having on the property market.

The point raised by the Deputy on tax brings me back to the point I made earlier to Deputy Boyd Barrett. It is difficult for me to have a counter-factual against which I can evaluate the operation of these funds from a taxation point of view. At an aggregate level I want to see if any conclusions can be drawn from the level of tax and from the impact of tax policy on the operation of these funds. We will do that work and it will be published next year.