Sir, – A review is announced. A roadmap appears. Another budget passes. The problem remains.
Deemed disposal is the perfect example.
The Government says it wants less wealth tied up in property and more people investing for the long term. Yet it protects a system that actively undermines that supposed goal.
Its own review recommended abolition in 2024. Two years later, the eight-year rule remains.
And as this Government refuses to act, it lectures taxpayers on financial literacy while presiding over enormous public-project overruns.
There is something deeply insulting about ordinary people being told to manage their money better by the same political system that repeatedly fails to manage ours.
People are not failing to invest because they lack literacy. They are looking at a system that punishes patience, penalises long-term investing and then blames them for not participating enthusiastically.
The problem is not Irish investors. It is Irish policy.
An investor can be forced to sell simply to pay tax on gains that had never been realised. Property can rise in value for decades without triggering a tax bill. Then the Government wonders why Irish wealth pours into property.
It is rational behaviour in response to an irrational tax system.
And it speaks to a larger issue: a political culture where postponing difficult decisions has become an acceptable substitute for action.
We have become too tolerant of weak leadership, endless reviews and Ministers hiding behind the language of “further consideration”.
This continued delay is not caution. It is a choice to protect a broken system because making a decision is harder than commissioning another review.
We have normalised a political system that demands responsibility from ordinary people while avoiding responsibility itself.
So, another review will be announced. Another roadmap will appear. Another budget will pass. And the problems will remain.
That is what passes for change in Ireland. – Yours, etc,
Cathal Ffrench,
Co. Mayo.