Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree that the VAT measure paid off, but the question is whether it is still needed in every part of the market. When one looks at the prices of hotel rooms in this city, one would question it. The change worked for a couple of years and we retained it because it helped to create jobs, but there are other ways to reduce the cost of a house. We are considering those, for example, funding infrastructure, reducing site costs and working on State-owned lands.

We will not accept this amendment because we will introduce proposals next week based on a full policy package. It would not be right of us to accept one or more amendments at this Stage without having our full policy worked out.Again, everybody was involved in formulating that policy. There were submissions from all sides. Threshold, which I will meet next week, was involved so everybody has had a say in this. It is not tipped in anyone's favour. Our motive is to increase supply. Senator Ó Clochartaigh spoke about car sales. I am not asking him to buy a car.