John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I thank the Deputy for putting down this amendment. Section 482 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 deals with certain tax reliefs for buildings of significant scientific, historical or aesthetic merit. Deputies will note that I provided for an exemption from the charge for such buildings that had been approved for the purposes of this section by the Revenue Commissioners.

Few such buildings will qualify under the provision of the Bill in section 2(1)(a) as most of them are likely to be used as principal private residences. Nonetheless, it seemed prudent to include the provision in the Bill, both for its own sake, especially as I have a role relating to heritage generally, and for consistency with the provision of the tax code operated by the Revenue Commissioners.

I regret I cannot accede to the amendment. If I provided an exemption for any person who indicated it was his or her bone fide intention to use a residential property as a principal private residence, the entire yield from the charge could dry up. Our corpus of legislation deals with reality as it exists, not as it might be or as some people intend it to be. For this reason, I cannot accede to the amendment sought.

If people genuinely believe they are entitled to relief under section 482 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, they should apply to the Revenue without delay. They should do so because they may be entitled to such relief but also because there is a possible exemption from the €200 charge if a property qualifies under section 482.

See this speech in context