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

The tax division of my Department provided the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach with an estimate of costs in respect of this measure that was based on specific assumptions. The report provided also noted that the capital taxes route was not the only means of providing an incentive to landlords to retain tenants and that it might also be possible to do so using the income tax system. It suggested that in the interest of completeness the Department might carry out further work on this aspect, which could be shared with Members in due course. This work would encompass an estimate of the possible cost based on specific assumptions and the potential benefits and disadvantages of possible changes. The work is under way and we hope to have it completed by the first quarter of next year.

Deputy Michael McGrath has raised this and it has featured in many of the issues raised by various NGOs, including Focus Ireland. While this measure was looked at in the report of the working group on the tax and fiscal treatment of landlords, which was published as part of the budget documentation for 2017, a particular option in that, which the Deputy has referred to, has persisted in the public debate since then. My Department wants to form a fuller view than that report allowed it to do in respect of the benefits and potential costs and whether it could play a role in future budgetary and fiscal policy. We are aiming to have a broader piece of work done on that by the first quarter of next year. That might then inform the Government and the Oireachtas on whether such a measure could play a role. At the time the Deputy and I discussed this I was very concerned about the unintended consequences of that change. That is the reason we must take a more in-depth look at it. The work will be done early next year.

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