Written answers

Wednesday, 14 July 2021

Department of Finance

Departmental Correspondence

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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86. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on correspondence (details supplied); the status of the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38364/21]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, has established an Independent Working Group to examine the issue of defective housing. Officials from my Department participate in this Working Group. The objectives of the group are to identify the scope of relevant significant defects in housing, to evaluate the scale of housing affected, to propose a means of prioritising defects, to evaluate the cost of remediation, to recommend appropriate mechanisms for resolving defects and, to consider financing options in line with the Programme for Government commitment to identifying options for those impacted by defects to access low-cost, long-term finance.

With regard to the proposal for Government to introduce tax expenditure measures as outlined in the details supplied, generally, proposals for such measures are assessed in accordance with my Department's Tax Expenditure Guidelines. These make clear that it is important that any policy proposal which involves tax expenditures should only occur in limited circumstances, for example where there are demonstrable market failures. In particular, they provide that a tax-based incentive should only be considered where it would be more efficient than a direct expenditure intervention. The introduction of such measures is a matter that would fall to be considered in the context of Budget 2022 and the subsequent Finance Bill.

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