In April 2009, the door to a permanent tax on domestic property was opened with the introduction of the €200 annual charge on Non-Principal Private Residences.

IF public sympathy has been in scarce supply for the owners of ‘second homes’ or or "Non-Principal Private Residence" to use the convoluted language of bureaucracy, it is growing as it becomes increasingly clear that much of the blame for this mess lies squarely at the door of the Department of the Environment.