Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with what Deputy Boyd Barrett said about the flaws that remain in terms of how far this should go. I believe Deputy Donnelly is in the same space. However, there is a huge misunderstanding of what we are trying to do here. The amendment here is to delete the section dealing with the fund industry which has been buying up property not just in recent months but for some years. They have bought the country; they have bought Dublin. What has happened over the past four years is amazing. I have given the statistics indicating that 66% of commercial property that is bought is bought by foreign money through funds. They are not Irish residents. Funds are not structured for Irish residents, but for non-Irish residents because an Irish resident would pay all the tax - they do not pay the corporation tax, but they pay the full tax in terms of dividend pay-outs. So they are structured for non-resident investors.

They have been doing it to beat the band. An Austrian guy has been buying up hotels left, right and centre across the country, structured in one of these funds which is very tax efficient for him. Despite all its flaws, for the first time ever this provision captures these individuals and the funds industry. There has been a lot of discussion and good work done on section 110 in terms of the purchase of debt. The purchase of assets in this country is being done through qualified investor funds as we know. The purchase of the Central Bank property and other properties is done through these funds and is being done completely tax-free.

While I am not happy with a policy decision to have a 25% limit, for which there is no reason, and while I am not happy that there is an exemption from CGT in terms of the uplift after holding the property for five years, I acknowledge the work done by the officials. I also acknowledge that the Minister has accepted this and that there is a dividend withholding tax. Those areas should be addressed in the future and there is also scope for the withholding tax at 20% to be increased to a higher level as is the case in many of our neighbouring jurisdictions.

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