James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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45. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider backdating the first-time buyer tax rebate, as announced as part of a new measure of budget 2017, to include first-time buyers who had purchased houses during the previous three months before the announcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31037/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Help to Buy initiative that I announced in Budget 2017 aims to assist first time buyers in getting their deposit together for their new homes, as required under the Central Bank's macro-prudential rules. This initiative was announced on 19th July, as part of the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. The backdating of this incentive to that date was announced at that time with a view to avoiding any potential interruption in house sales, by purchasers who may otherwise have deferred purchases, pending the commencement of the incentive.

It is not clear if the Deputy is seeking a further backdating of the incentive. However, as with all time-limited reliefs, there will always be people who just miss out. Unfortunately, I do not intend to extend the parameters of this new measure any further as it would become less targeted and more costly.