Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

An additional ¤10 million will be allocated to acquiring housing from NAMA for the benefit of those who require social housing, a positive measure in this budget.

I wish to spend my remaining time talking about the residential property tax and will highlight a number of issues about which I have some concerns. Over the years, numerous academics cited the fact that people in this country, particularly older people, own their own homes as one of the measures that prevents poverty in older age. We all agree we need to have a much wider tax network. Can this measure be kept under review during the coming years? There are options for deferral within the proposed measures but for older people their houses are very dear. I have gone into the homes of older people and seen them sitting in front of two-bar electric heaters, although the house may be a mansion. We must be conscious that logic does not always enter into the equation.

There may be an anomaly in the property tax provisions. I refer to appendix B in budget 2013, which states that local authority and social housing will not be exempt from the property tax measures. I would like some clarification on that. If local authorities and voluntary housing bodies must pay property tax on their own housing, the logic is similar to that of robbing Peter to pay Paul. For the voluntary housing bodies this could be an enormous imposition. The Respond housing association, for example, has in the region of 6,000 units. I alert the Minister of State to the fact there may be unintended consequences to this measure.

One third of buy-to-let mortgages in this country are in arrears. I would not like to see this measure forcing up rents. We are already aware of the worsening situation in recent years because of rising rents. The measure should be kept under review.