Seanad debates
Wednesday, 20 November 2002
Housing Grants: Motion.
It has also been argued that the grant discriminates between different types of first-time buyers because it only applied to first-time buyers of new houses. I have been making that point, as have others in Opposition, for some years. It has been clear for some time that the industry itself did not need support and the people who did were particular types of purchasers, specifically first-time buyers. I have always argued that first-time buyers of second-hand houses were equally entitled to the grant and that the exemption from stamp duty, which applies to first-time buyers of new houses, should also be applied in respect of second-hand houses. It is the purchaser we should seek to support, not the industry.
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