Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

The one-off site is designated as being 1 acre in size, a restriction that is in line with the site size restrictions already in place in taxation law in respect of capital gains tax and stamp duty exemptions on disposal of a site to a child and in line with normal tax practices. Similar to the site size restriction, it is also necessary to restrict the value of a one-off site which would not be subject to the 80% windfall tax. A value not exceeding €250,000 has been applied rather than €500,000, the value used in the case of capital gains tax and stamp duty exemptions, on disposal of a site to a child. The reason for the reduced value threshold is the significant drop in land values. In the current economic climate we believe €250,000 is a more realistic value.