Fianna Fáil has described Tánaiste Michael McDowell's comments about reducing or abolishing stamp duty "a little bit of electioneering".
Mr McDowell yesterday said that the revenue generated by residential stamp duty - some €3 billion - was not really needed by the Government. The Tánaiste claimed that the PDs would try to reduce or abolish stamp duty if it were elected to government in the next term.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Sean Fleming, chairman of the Dáil select committee on finance and the public service, said reducing any income in a particular revenue-generating area would mean that the funds would need to be compensated for in other areas.
The Fianna Fáil politician insisted that the tax was fair. "Like all taxes, it's an unpopular tax," he said.
He also said that he would have been more impressed with a "full thought-out proposal" from Mr McDowell rather than what he described as "just a headline figure".
Mr Fleming also suggested that the PD leader could have been thinking of his own constituents in Dublin South East rather than the broader picture.
"The basic principle is I don't think the Government can do without the funding without having a serious impact on somebody else along the line," he said.