Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like the Minister for Finance to confirm whether he plans to amend the inheritance and capital gains tax in budget 2025.In September 2023, the then Minister for Finance was asked in the Dáil if he would consider the concept of a notional spouse with respect to capital acquisitions tax and inheritance tax. The concept would reconsider tax thresholds for family members such as brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews as if they were a spouse for specific tax purposes. The current group A threshold for beneficiaries of gifts or inheritance is €335,000 for parent-to-child transfers. The CSO published a residential property price index on 17 October 2023 stating that the average price of a residential property had reached €366,653 in the 12 months up to June 2023. This means that the average house price in Ireland is in excess of the parent-to-child transfer threshold. For group B, the category into which nieces, nephews and siblings fall, the threshold also remains at €32,500, which is now meagrely over the annual minimum wage of €25,756. The threshold for group C is €16,250, and this is mostly for non-family relationships, such as friends, carers and possibly those deemed to be in a durable or casual relationship.

If this Government is serious about easing the housing crisis and listening to the needs of the public facing an ever worsening cost-of-living crisis, or wishes to honour its long-desired empowerment of durable relationships, perhaps it might consider tangible help and relief to people who wish to help out nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, friends and also their own children by way of a financial gift. The people of this country most impacted by this are the new working and middle classes of Ireland, who have worked long and hard and contributed for decades to support our failing State, only to watch opportunity, support and social housing preference going to the new arrivals and those not contributing economically to the upkeep and prosperity of the State.

As a nation, our younger generation is facing drastic impediments regarding access to the housing market. Just under 70% of 25- to 29-year-olds live with their parents, and there are limited opportunities to enter the rental or home-ownership markets. If a parent, either by a gift or inheritance, wishes to give their child a step-up in these conditions, our Government is not assisting in any way. This is an insult to the hard-working people of our country who purchase family homes and adequately prepare to leave a legacy for their families after a long life of hard work.

In conclusion, the Government will have to take steps to give people a chance to have financial prosperity. The working and middle classes are the temperature gauge of a prosperous State, and this Government has squeezed and sold out our workers for far too long.