Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As for the figures used in the various assumptions that are being put forward, a point that has been lost is that they are based on the premise that all developers have put in place arrangements so that no stamp duty liability could have arisen in respect of any conveyancing. This pertains to the projected figures that I have read in articles recently. However, this does not represent reality because developers take conveyances on property for various reasons. As the report points out, these reasons include security where a property may be in the process of being assembled to ensure long-term certainty or a requirement from financial institutions prior to advancing funding. In reality, the tax at issue is taken to be a small percentage of this. Were Members to examine the report, they would learn there is no sum of €200 million or €400 million being lost in this regard.

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