TD Neil Richmond has called for a doubling of stamp duty to drive more new home purchases in Ireland

Dublin: TD Neil Richmond has called for a doubling of stamp duty to drive more new home purchases in Ireland. 

Junior minister Neil Richmond said stamp duty on bulk purchases of new homes through 'vulture funds'* should be doubled to 20 per cent and the measure should be introduced in Budget 2025 on 1 October. I think the government needs to be wary of how the market in Ireland is going. I urge caution on market-sensitive issues, so in the case of stamp duty issue, the Finance Minister had already commissioned a substantive review of the same.

What is Vulture Fund*?

A vulture fund is a hedge fund, private-equity fund, or distressed debt fund that invests in debt that is considered very weak or in default, known as distressed securities. Investors in the fund make a profit by buying debt at a discount in a secondary market, and then use a number of methods to sell the debt at a price greater than the purchase price. Creditors include companies, countries and individuals.

There was a previous proposal by opposition party Sinn Féin to raise stamp duty rates to 17 per cent on bulk purchases of new homes through 'vulture funds'. The proposal was rejected by the government following a Dáil vote.

But that review is coming to an end and I was surprised by Neil Richmond's comments yesterday because I would have thought it would have been sensible to wait for the outcome of the review. 

Tánaiste Michael Martin called for caution over speculation ahead of the Budget.