Tax Reliefs
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
============================================================

Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I have heard Deputy O'Callaghan make this point before and he holds a legitimate policy viewpoint on linking this to affordability. My predecessor was clear and I am clear too: this is a viability measure. While I do not have it in front of me, we have seen a very small example of where this measure has led to people building apartments to say that it has reduced the costs. However, it has not been introduced primarily as an affordability measures; it has been introduced primarily as a viability measure. There are other things we try to do on the viability side, such as cost rental, renter's tax credits, etc. That is a broader debate. I do not want to say, nor did I say, that no evidence-based research has been done. We have listened to the market, listened to industry and listened to the people who build apartments. That is an important thing to do in recognising there is a viability issue. There was also the June 2024 Department of Finance report which recognised challenges in this area and the Department of housing total development cost report.
I thank Deputy Carrigy for his question on apartments. I also followed that meeting and it was encouraging to hear many people, including the AHBs, saying this measure would help them. The Deputy is right in saying this is just one of a number of measures; there are also the apartment standards. I do not have a timeline on that but I will see if I can get it and revert to him. The apartment standard changes, the viability measures around the VAT and the clarity around rent protections are three key issues in trying to really stimulate apartment construction.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18