The Opposition parties have criticised the Government's housing plan, claiming it does not go far enough towards solving the housing crisis.
The Fine Gael spokesman on housing, Mr Brian Hayes, said the plan would push up prices for first-time buyers and called on the Minister with responsibility for housing, Mr Robert Molloy, to consider his position.
The immediate reaction of Fine Gael to the decision to change stamp duty on residential property was that it would further worsen inflation in the housing market, Mr Hayes said.
He added that if the Government was serious in addressing the concerns of first-time buyers, a co-ordinated package to radically increase housing supply would have been enacted.
"Unfortunately, today's set of proposals will push up prices for first-time buyers and ultimately increase rents in the private rented sectors. Very few first-time buyers are bidding for second hand homes under u£150,000.
"Key decisions in relation to future housing needs and in particular the need to develop a spatial strategy must be taken now. Hard decisions in connection with designating certain towns for accelerated housing supply cannot wait until after the next general election," Mr Hayes added.
The Labour Party spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said the announcement was too limited to make a real impact on the housing crisis.
"While the Labour Party is supporting the tax and stamp duty measures, which are designed to curb investor activity in the housing market, we are extremely disappointed that the Government is failing to take action in a number of key areas," he said.
Mr Gilmore said the Government measures took no effective action to end land speculation, which was now contributing up to 50 per cent of the price of houses. He said the increase of 1,000 housing units a year in the social housing programmes was not enough to cope with up to 60,000 local authority applicants. Mr Gilmore said the third Bacon report on which the Government's proposals were based was also a disappointment.
"It is firstly an exercise in self-justification setting out initially to show that the previous two reports got it right. Bacon 1 and Bacon 2 were a failure, which is why we still have a housing crisis."