Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I will be very brief. I am from the Albert Reynolds school of thought and believe in putting everything on one page. The committee heard one of the most concise and precise opening statements in a long time. Every last word is common sense. We know that common sense does not always prevail. There is nothing on the page that I would not agree with. It makes good points on capital gains tax and, as Mr. Davitt just told Senator Boyhan, a reduction in capital gains rather than wiping it out completely could be achievable. Getting these things over the line is not simple but something has to be done.

Much of this is batting the ball back over to the committee. Nearly everything in this proposal belongs in our department and we will have to try to get it introduced. I live in rural Ireland and I drive by these houses every day of the week. The briars, broken windows and empty bottles outside them are getting worse. They started out as lovely houses and with very little work, they could become habitable again and make lovely family homes.

The advantage of doing up a second-hand house is that planning permission is guaranteed. I agree that some stipulations may be made but applicants will not be refused point blank because it is an existing house. The services are in place unless the house is really derelict or uninhabited. The three big issues for anyone who wants to build a house are getting planning permission, dealing with Irish Water to get a connection and dealing with the ESB if a few poles have to be erected. There are, therefore, a lot of advantages.

Given that auctioneers have boots on the ground, do the witnesses believe there are buyers? Is there an appetite out there? Many younger people – we have all been there – aspire to build a designer house like those they see in magazines or on television. There have been some very good programmes on television on refurbishing houses. When people see how well they turn out, it may be that the attitude is changing. I do not want to say that people have attitudes but any young couple will have a dream house of their own and no part of that dream involves doing up an almost derelict house. Would there be an appetite to buy these houses and do this type of a project if all the problems with capital gains and so on were solved and the current owners were prepared to sell these properties? Is there demand and would be people buy into that?

We got spoiled during the boom and the madness. People were able to get a mortgage for more than they should have got to build or buy their dream house. Those days are long gone and a lot of problems have come on the back of that. Would the generation that has grown up since then buy into this? Do auctioneers have people on their books or knocking on their doors asking for second-hand houses or houses they could get a grant to do up and live in?

That is my question to Mr. Davitt regarding his profession and where he is standing.