Derek McDowell (Labour)

That might have something to do with it.

We need to do this in a focused way and know what are our objectives. There is a danger — we have witnessed some of it this evening — that it will become a debate between political parties as to who can say the most populist thing. In that context, we must be conscious of two issues. First, we must recognise that the housing market is very responsive to what we and our betters in the Lower House say in a way that most other sectors are not and, second, we must accept there is a cost involved. As officials of the Department of Finance once informed me, this is a nice little earner and it is not necessarily a tax revenue that is guaranteed into the future. Unlike the position in respect of income tax, which we can reasonably expect to be always on the increase in terms of revenue accruing to the State, it is likely that, at some stage in the future, there will be a slowdown in the housing market and that the take from stamp duty will be significantly reduced. I do not believe we can afford to be as cavalier in respect of revenue to the State as we might, perhaps, be tempted to be in the months immediately preceding an election.