Investors anxious to complete the purchase of apartments and houses before the new punitive stamp duty regime comes into force on January 31st have been given a bit of a breather by Charlie McCreevy. He has told the Irish Home Builders Association that the deadline will be put back to the summer, when he introduces changes in the Finance Act due to come before the Oireachtas in the coming weeks. The big question now is whether the Government will heed the warnings that migrant workers planning to move to the greater Dublin area cannot find rental accommodation. One suggestion being floated is that the 9 per cent stays but that investors should be allowed to offset rental income against mortgages, as commercial property investors can. The one-off payment of 9 per cent would still prove a disincentive to small investors, but at least some additional rental properties would become available in a market with a lot more demand than supply.

With Government agencies still pouring money into recruiting skilled workers abroad to fill a whole range of jobs in Ireland, it seems absurd that the effort can be undermined by such a basic requirement as rental accommodation, particularly in Dublin city.