Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

The point the Minister of State is making is that people will take a hit because valuations can work both ways. If the Revenue took a hit during the past decade in terms of inheritance tax because of rapidly rising property prices, that was an issue for Revenue to decide whether it would accept that risk but the converse position is not true. If people's inheritance is being put at risk because of a collapse in property prices, the Minister of State is saying to these people that the Government will force them to sell if they cannot pay the inheritance tax for which they are liable or that they must not accept their inheritance if the value of what they are inheriting is less than their liabilities and other costs that might be incurred. It does not automatically apply that just because Revenue accepts that it is taking a hit when prices are rising, we should accept that people inheriting an asset should take a hit. In some cases an inheritance may be a parcel of land or a family home and the valuation of a family home would have been significantly higher three years ago than it is now. We should not just accept that a person may win one way or lose the other way. We should be more understanding.