Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We do not anticipate a significant gain for the State from the change in amendment No. 27 but I still believe that the change needs to be made. Part of this was dealt with by the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, on Committee Stage and I understand that the committee went into private session to allow a number of technical questions which were raised by Deputies to be answered by the Revenue Commissioners. We committed at that point to supplying a technical note to answer formally questions that were raised by members of the committee and we will do that.

On the points put to me by Deputies regarding the change coming into effect on 1 January 2019, the decisions that the former Minister, Deputy Noonan, made about these funds were right given our property market and the economy of our country at the time. However, I have decided it is right to make this change. I am changing the relief because I believe, with the developments in our economy, this is the right policy choice to make. There is a benefit to maintaining a degree of certainty regarding how we manage tax policy and important policy changes in the country. Therefore, as I said on Committee Stage and earlier in my contribution today, as this amendment, which I want to make, relates to a measure which was recently introduced in a Finance Bill, it will not come into effect until early in 2019.

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