Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Finance when he will issue a commencement order to give effect to the legislative basis included in Finance Act 2001 for restricting the use of legacy property reliefs and ultimately guillotine all outstanding reliefs. [27657/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy notes Finance Act 2011 provided a legislative basis for initially restricting the use of legacy property reliefs and ultimately 'guillotining' all outstanding reliefs subject to a commencement order. The Act required that an economic impact assessment be undertaken in advance of the commencement of the measures. In the Programme for Government we committed to reducing, capping or abolishing property tax reliefs and other tax shelters which benefit very high income earners. Accordingly I requested that my Department carry out an impact assessment of the potential effects of amending, curtailing and/or abolishing the "legacy" property reliefs. This assessment will assist in providing an evidence base and better understanding of the benefits that may accrue to the Exchequer in terms of additional tax yield as well as the consequences for investor groups and the wider economy.

In order to enable all interested parties to submit their views my Department undertook a public consultation, which concluded in July. Over 700 submissions were received from a wide range of organisations and individuals in response to the consultation. (This is an update of an estimate of over 500 provided in September last in my reply to PQ's 23400/11 and 24193/11.)

These submissions are currently being examined and will feed into the overall impact assessment process. The results of the assessment will be considered in the context of the budgetary process. As is customary, I do not propose to comment in advance of the Budget on any matters that may be the subject of Budget decisions.