Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to make this point because it is very important. I will be brief. The property to which I refer has been a family home for three generations. As a result of the hugely unfair and anti-urban property tax being introduced by the Government at the time, however, the man by whom I was approached was going to be obliged to sell it. He had already paid a substantial whack of inheritance tax when he inherited the property. I am of the view that this was wrong.

What we are proposing to do here is to make certain urban areas exclusive and state that people of a particular class or income level cannot live in them. There has always been a fairly good level of diversity in most areas, villages and communities in my constituency. This is going to be eliminated by what is an unfair property tax. I discussed this matter with the Minister, Deputy Noonan, on many occasions but to no avail. What is being done in the Bill will only add to the problem. The average house price in my constituency is approximately €500,000. I am not talking here about mansions, rather I am referring to very basic small family homes. Some €275,000 of this money is now going to be taxable. Essentially, people are going to be liable for capital acquisitions tax bills amounting to €90,000.

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