Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State said that 45% of mortgages are taken out by first-time buyers. While that may be a fact, and I take his word for it, they are taken out to buy houses on which the Government is charging those first-time buyers stamp duty. How many people in that 45% are buying houses costing more than €317,500? While I do not know if the Minister of State has such experience, I have experience of this because my daughter is a nurse in Dublin trying to buy her first house. As she cannot get a house for less than €317,500, she will be obliged to pay the Government €40,000 or €50,000 for buying the house in the vicinity of where she works or on the outskirts of the city.

Is the Minister of State aware that the recent census showed that the population of Dublin city rose by only 2% between 2002 and 2006? However, there was a huge growth in the neighbouring counties of Fingal with a 22% increase, Meath with a 21% increase and Kildare with a 14% increase. This clearly shows that first-time buyers must go considerably outside the city and away from where they originate and work to acquire a house at a reasonable price. If the Government increased the threshold for stamp duty or abolished it altogether for first-time buyers it would be doing the first-time buyers a service rather than paying lip service. Of course it is true to say that first-time buyers are buying houses for 13% less than the average person because he is comparing them with people who have traded up. In any case most first-time buyers buy flats or apartments.

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