Madam, - Fianna Fáil has promised to remove stamp duty for first-time buyers. The £317,500 ceiling will no longer apply. As a result, the artificial clustering of prices at this level will be removed and developers and vendors will be able to charge more for their properties - the "craic" in the Galway tent should be mighty. Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil will win thousands of votes from people who should know better.
As to the benefits for those at whom this ruse is aimed: stop and think about it for a minute. . .! - Yours, etc,
DENIS MORTELL, Clonskeagh, Dubin 14.
A Chara, - The sitting Government, after 10 years in power, now wishes to abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers. Hurray! Thanks Bertie, but you could have indicated this in the 2007 Budget.
After the plans for the country were unveiled in December, I proceeded to purchase my first house with great pride and anticipation in March, paying €35,000 to the Government for the privilege and pushing my personal debt levels into dangerous waters. . - Yours, etc,
FRAN GREEN, The Avenue, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.
Madam, - The Taoiseach has announced that Fianna Fáil plans to cut stamp duty if re-elected to government, because its focus has always been on first-time buyers, and it was the right thing to do.
Why, then, did both the Taoiseach and Brian Cowen arrogantly dismiss stamp duty reform up to now? Mr Cowen said just six weeks ago that it was a non-issue, since in his words "the vast majority" of first-time buyers were exempt from stamp duty anyway.
You have to hand it to Fianna Fáil - they've done a 180 degree U-turn, and haven't even blushed. - Yours, etc,
ERIC KEANE, New Quay, Burren, Co Clare.