Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

——those breaks were not unlimited or available in all respects. I was the Minister who introduced that measure in response to the change that was coming in the property market. The Opposition — before, during and since the last budget debate and certainly in the run up to the 2007 election — was saying that we should cut stamp duty by a greater amount so that we could raise prices. I refused to agree to that and did not accept it as the property policy position. I stood over that decision.

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