THE INDEPENDENT ALLIANCE has tabled a list of budget suggestions with Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.

According to the Irish Times the suggestions, contained in a document presented to Donohoe, includes Shane Ross’s by-now infamous ‘granny grant’ idea, and a call for tolls on motorways to be capped at €5 per day per user.

Plans are also floated to ‘incentivise’ older homeowners to downscale their home in order to alleviate the housing crisis.

Those incentives would include “reducing stamp duty on the purchase of a property under a certain size by a person over a certain age who has sold a property over a certain size”. So, as an example, a person over-65 with a four-bed property say would perhaps be exempt from 1% stamp duty if selling their current home and buying a two-bed property.

But would that work? And is it a good idea or just a vote-grubbing exercise?

We’re asking: Should older people be ‘incentivised’ to downsize their homes?

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