Cowen accused of stalling over second home perk

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen was last night accused of “stalling” over revealing whether he claims a controversial tax perk for the upkeep of second homes.

Mr Cowen’s officials said it would take “a number of days” to find out the information when contacted by the Irish Examiner on Monday, but opposition TDs said it was a simple yes or no issue and the Taoiseach should inform taxpayers urgently if he availed of the financial relief or not.

As well as the Taoiseach, Education Minister Batt O’Keefe and five other normally publicity-hungry Cabinet colleagues are also keeping voters guessing as to whether they are claiming the €100,000 a year tax relief for “maintaining” homes – prompting opposition TDs to dub the members “the Secret Seven”.