Mrs. Alice Doyle:

The Senator mentioned a couple of the points. I will come back to capital gains tax in a minute. He made a few points about houses on the edge of a farm or belonging to a farm. In many cases they would be used for family members if they could be done up. He also alluded to the fact that many family members are working part-time on the farm or are working in the local community. As we have emphasised on numerous occasions, the contribution to the local community is important. We have just come through a session of four major meetings on inheritance and succession. The biggest question we were asked was around how we will provide for the next generation. We spoke about houses that are on the edge of the farm or in the farmyard on numerous occasions. Many of the houses are in the middle of the farmyard and not suitable for sale, but they are suitable to be given to a family member. It would be cost-effective to give them to a family member because they would be well under the inheritance tax threshold. They would easily be under the €335,000 even when people are doing up an old house. The value of houses in the middle of a farmyard is less than if it on the outskirts of a farm. Those houses could be done up and given to family members, perhaps even to some who are not working on the farm. That has become a big question for us, when it comes to inheritance. Farmers have to provide for more than the person who will inherit the farm. Other family members need to be considered. In that case, a house being done up on the farm is a viable proposition, as Mr. Rushe mentioned, as long as they do not have to jump through hoops to get there. Sometimes it is easier to get planning permission on a one acre site that can be given to a son or daughter, free grass. No inheritance tax has to be paid on it. It does not have to be included in the €335,000. It might be easier to build a house if there will be too many restrictions on doing one up.

As regards capital gains tax and doing up buildings, most of these buildings will not necessarily be for sale if they are on farms. They will come back to the family, so capital gains tax will not be an issue. The sale would be an issue if it comes to capital gains. Many of them would not be for sale. Many of them would remain on the farm. In the event of them being put up for sale, the value of a house could be raised quickly. A house that is valued at a low rate and is then sold after being done up can have a serious increase in value. That can have serious implications down the line. We must be careful about that. The other thing the Senator mentioned in his comments were the English plans such as group developments around the edges of towns or groups buying up a small number of houses. Many of the development plans talk about building nodes of four or five houses in an area. In parts of the country, along certain parts of the road there are strings of old houses. If they could be sold to companies that would take them on and do the building, that would be a viable proposition. Companies can get grants that farmers cannot get to do it. Even if grants can be obtained for the development of a derelict house, companies would be quite interested in doing it and it would add greatly to our local community. Local development nodes are important to the survival of rural communities.