Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply and I welcome what he said. If, as happened in the past, a banker were to become deranged and pay a wild price for a house in a neighbourhood located not too far from the Oireachtas, I presume this will not affect the liabilities of everyone else in said neighbourhood. From what the Minister indicated, I understand that the price paid by the banker would not become the lead value for the neighbourhood. Will the Revenue take the view that the individual in question had more money than brains and that he overpaid massively for the house in question? If it does not take such a view, those who live in the neighbourhood in question will be concerned because their incomes have not increased and they bought their houses to live in rather than as an investment. I appreciate the Minister's point with regard to the fact that the low rate should not put distortions in place. I hope the system will pick up the sort of one-off cases to which I refer. I accept that someone might pay over the odds for a house in which his great-grandfather lived. Would this affect everyone else in the area? From what the Minister said, I believe it would not.