Madam, - In a direct reference to recent remarks by the Minister for Housing on the clear necessity to discourage short-term speculation in the housing market by heavily taxing such activity, you report that IIB Bank's recent review of the property market warns against any intervention by Government (The Irish Times, September 5th).
In his remarks the Minister specifically referred to the abhorrent practice of "sub-sale", which is a process under which a speculator contracts to purchase a property off site plans and subsequently sells on the legal interest in this contract to a third party prior to completion of the purchase without ever actually owning the property.
Can it not be asserted that there is a world of difference between this type of activity and that of an investor who invests in a second property for his or her retirement or for a member of the family later on in life?
Would it not therefore be helpful to the market if financial institutions, including IIB, actively discouraged the practice of sub-sales, instead of displaying an apparent inability to distinguish between investors and short-term speculators whose sole motivation is the gaining of a quick profit normally at the expense of others? - Yours, etc,
TONY TAAFFE, Main Street, Finglas, Dublin 11.