Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I lend my support to amendment No. 2. To put it in context, in the past year some 2,000 people, approximately 5%, of the 38,000 first-time buyers paid stamp duty. It is an immaterial number. The €70 million collected from a total intake from stamp duty of €4 billion will have little, if any, impact in terms of the housing market. The Government has missed a golden opportunity to properly reform the stamp duty regime which is currently inequitable. It should have dealt with the issue of people trading up to their second home.

Traditionally people buying their second home buy in the second-hand market rather than going back into the new house market. First-time buyers have no equity. However, people who have sold their house are moving with equity. The problem is that they are selling to a first-time buyer who will pay no stamp duty but they themselves must pay stamp duty if they are buying a second-hand house. If the house costs €300,000 the stamp duty will be 5%, just short of €16,000. It is not my intention to rehash my party's general election proposals, but one of our proposals was to reduce stamp duty to 3%, which would have brought the stamp duty down to €10,000. It would have meant an extra €6,000 for the person trading up. That is an opportunity the Government missed. People may not be aware that a homeowner buying a second-hand home is in the same position as an investor. That should not be the case. This is an anomaly that should be examined by the commission on taxation.

The problem is that what is proposed in this Bill will achieve very little. All it does is eliminate stamp duty for 2,000 of 38,000 first-time buyers. It does nothing for the person moving house, and there are various reasons people move. Should they be penalised if they have to move from one area of the country to another by reason of their job or because there has been an increase in the size for their family? This Bill, as far as I am concerned, is nothing but a sham. It does nothing for the genuine home owner who wants to move house. The irony is that approximately 99% of first-time buyers purchasing outside the main Dublin area pay no stamp duty. This Bill does nothing in terms of the proper reform of stamp duty which should take place. The proposed commission on taxation should examine this issue. We should push forward to ensure a fairer stamp duty system.

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