Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to raise a few questions relating to the section and get some clarification. As somebody living in a rural area I know of cases where sites are transferred from parents to sons or daughter. It is an extremely important process which has encouraged young people to live in rural Ireland who may not have been able to afford to live there otherwise. A cost placed on this will have a major effect. The former Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, has introduced regulations to such an extent that it will be almost impossible for young people to get planning permission in rural Ireland and this further impediment will not help. It is important to remember that sons or daughters living adjacent to family homes in rural Ireland can be extremely helpful in looking after parents or handicapped siblings. There should be clarification on the issue as the Bill as published would be a major step backwards in this regard.

Stamp duty at high levels has done much damage in the past. The transfer of land from father to son or daughter, if it is not done before the son or daughter is 35, can bring about significant costs. For different reasons some transfers may not be done before the son or daughter reaches 35; for example, a son or daughter may have had to leave home because of insufficient income in the home for two families. We need to consider these types of issues carefully.

I am annoyed that the Bill will require first-time buyers to pay stamp duty, albeit at a rate of 1%. Young people are finding it impossible to get onto the housing ladder. Recently, I encountered a case of a young couple, both of whom are in reasonable jobs, who were refused a mortgage to buy a house which cost one third of what a similar house would have cost five years ago. We must not impede efforts to utilise the current stock of empty houses. We need to encourage young people to move into empty houses.

I listened to Deputy McManus's comments on the need for greater gender balance in the Oireachtas. I have an interest in this matter because I encouraged a young woman to accept the nomination to follow me into the Dáil. The lady in question will face all sorts of difficulties because the political system is structured in a manner that does not encourage female participation in politics. Deputy McManus and other Deputies who are about to retire have been extremely able contributors to Dáil proceedings. I hope she and other colleagues who are conscious of the difficulties experienced by politicians and their families will seek to ensure they are replaced by female colleagues and encourage greater female participation in politics. While I fully appreciate the issue is not related to the Finance Bill, I wanted to respond to the Deputy's contribution on this issue, with which I concur.

On a separate matter, we have recently been dealing with the Neary affair in Drogheda, a highly delicate matter. When the issue first arose the presence on our team of former Deputy Nora Owen and Senator Francis Fitzgerald, also a former Deputy, was invaluable.

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