Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is an interesting but not surprising response from the Minister. He has no idea how many forward purchase agreements are already in place, yet he exempted every single one of them from the 10% stamp duty charge. He has no idea how many transactions have been completed since that date, yet he exempted them all from the increased stamp duty. That speaks volumes about how the Government was dragged, kicking and screaming, to this point, where it did want to be in the first place. The Minister did not want to tax the vulture funds and we know that from having this argument with him for the past number of years. He resisted it at every single twist and turn.

He has exempted some developments but he does not know how much is involved in that. He does not know how many bulk purchases could happen over the next number of years because he has no knowledge of how many such agreements are in place. As Minister for Finance, did he even look to find out that information? Did he inquire about it at any stage or did he just say, "Ah well, let it be", when he exempted all of them?

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