Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We are not going to abolish inheritance tax. As I said earlier, we think it appropriate that if we tax earned income for which people have worked, it is, therefore, also appropriate that we tax unearned income that people receive by means of inheritance, capital gains or other means but I agree that we should increase the thresholds over time. That threshold of €335,000 has been increased in recent years. It is supposed to be pitched around the cost of an average house so the average person could pass on the average house to a child without being liable for inheritance tax. As house prices rise, we need to continue to look at that threshold. It has been increased in recent budgets. We also need to examine the issue of a nephew or a niece being counted as a favourite nephew or niece, particularly if they have been involved in caring duties. I am not going to make a commitment to abolish inheritance tax because I do not agree with that. However, we can make changes to make the system fairer.

See this speech in context