McCreevey’s grant-aid hypocrisy

As the reverberations from Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy’s doom-laden Estimates became even more intensified yesterday, much of it focused on the axing of the first time buyer’s house grant, it emerged that some Government Ministers with a second home and Irish speakers will continue to enjoy exclusive tax breaks.

In what can only be perceived as an act of breath-taking hypocrisy, the Minister summarily abolished the grant for first-time buyers, but left in place a cosy arrangement whereby colleagues are entitled to approximately three times as much as he took from unfortunate couples.

To add to the outrage already expressed because of his penny-pinching from cash-strapped home buyers, it also transpires that new house grants are being retained for Gaeltacht areas and the islands. In the former, this amounts to 5,000 and invariably the recipients will be building on sites donated by their parents.