Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has warned against speculating on issues such as stamp duty that may damage the Republic's sluggish housing market even further.
Mr Cowen said he would, as promised last December, increase mortgage interest relief in the upcoming Budget to bring the single rate up to €10,000 and the rate for married couples up to €20,000.
Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen
"I don't believe it is very wise for anybody to be speculating at all in this area whatsoever. Last year we had a similar speculation which I don't think did the building industry any good," Mr Cowen said during an RTÉ radio interview.
"We don't want confusion in the market place. I said before the election what I would do, we were elected, came into office, we enacted the Finance Number 2 Bill before the Dail rose, that provides for the exemption of stamp duty for all first time buyers.
"I have made it very clear that I have said what I would do and I did it. And I don't speculate on any budget at any time and I don't want any significance or any idea to be taken from that."
He said that confidence and clarity were needed and confusion needed to be avoided, as it may hinder people "being able to make the sort of important life decisions such as purchasing their first home."
Mr Cowen said the economy was "still performing very well" despite Exchequer figures yesterday that show substantial shortfalls in the taxes generated from the property and construction sectors during the first nine months of the year.
"It is true to say that in the short term it looks like we are not going to have the same level of growth in the second half of this year as the very exceptional performance of the first half," Mr Cowen said.
"We feel that it is prudent to signal the possibility of some further weakening in tax receipts in the latter half of the year so that in overall terms a tax shortfall of about a billion is now expected for the year as a whole.
"We have an economy that is growing, that is not growing at the rate that it did in the past. It still compares very well with other economies. We simply have to manage our affairs responsibly and in a sensible manner as our taxpayers would expect us to."
