The Department of Finance is working with the Revenue Commissioners to produce an amendment to the Finance Bill, 1999, in order to allow changes in capital gains tax (CGT).
Dr Peter Bacon's report recommends that consideration be given to the withdrawal of the requirement that planning permission be procured in order to qualify for the 20 per cent rate of CGT on the sale of land for residential development.
Meanwhile, the Department of Finance is also considering another recommendation in the report, the establishment of a commission to examine issues relating to the private rental sector.
The report recommends that the tax relief for private sector rents be doubled and, according to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, this proposal would be given "full consideration in the context of next year's Budget".
According to Mr Ahern, the challenge now was to maintain the present economic momentum. Further well-planned investment in infrastructure was essential if this was to happen.
Improving the supply of housing - a "national issue" - would not, in itself, be sufficient. There was no point in building thousands of houses in an area if the people living in those houses were unable to get to work.
The next National Development Plan would involve an "ambitious programme of investment in roads, transport and essential services".
However, short-term measures were particularly necessary in the housing area.
The Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Mr Robert Molloy, said nobody had come up with a simple solution to the difficulties in the housing market because there was none.
"The consultant's report indicates a general consensus that the Government's measures introduced last year have had a calming effect on the housing market. A summary of house-price statistics for the December quarter 1998 confirms a moderation in the trend of house-price increases, especially in Dublin, where the problem has been most acute," he added.
The rate of increase was lower than at any period since the third quarter of 1997. Second-hand house prices in Dublin were virtually unchanged from the September quarter figure.
However, the housing supply must be increased "as an absolute priority" to meet the current demand for accommodation.
Meanwhile, the report has failed to impress the Opposition who suggested the Government was engaged in a blatant attempt to camouflage the full extent of the housing crisis.
Fine Gael's housing spokesman, Mr Brian Hayes, claimed the Government was responding "in a jigsaw-like fashion" to the problem .
"It is unfortunate that in the latest announcement virtually no measures have been produced to help the position of the tenant in the private rental sector. The Government has dodged a recommendation by Dr Bacon to increase the taxable allowance for tenants," he said.
The "most cruel" aspect of the Government's position on housing was that many of the initiatives announced yesterday and last week could and should have been implemented much earlier.
Labour's spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said legislation was urgently required to control rents and ensure greater rights for tenants.
"In general terms, I am disappointed with this latest report. Bacon has asserted that there has been a general easing in house price inflation. However, the reality is that, on the ground, thousands of people have been priced out of the market, and this slowdown means nothing to them," he said.