Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe has said he is “disappointed” with the outcome of Government reforms on housing, and that some of his colleagues in the Oireachtas share his view. Under tax and planning reforms agreed at Cabinet last night, and to be enacted today, bulk purchases of houses and duplexes will be hit with higher stamp duty taxes and disallowed under planning regulations. “If we start differentiating there is a real danger we create an urban/suburban divide,” Mr Cuffe said. Mr Cuffe added he was not sure if there was “scope for fine tuning of this at this stage”, and said he is talking to Green colleagues on the issue. But she said she firmly viewed the reforms as a first step, and that she wanted to end the build-to-rent category of apartment building, which is specifically exempted from the planning reforms brought to Cabinet.

Source: The Irish Times May 19, 2021 11:18 UTC