The Government's legislation to abolish stamp duty for all first-time buyers, which will be taken by the Dáil this week, will be supported by the Green Party.
Last night, former Cork South Central TD Dan Boyle dismissed suggestions that the Greens were looking for amendments to be made.
However, he said, the Greens had already made it clear that they were "seeking to influence" future changes in the Government's stamp duty rules.
Under Finance Bill Number 2 all first-time buyers will be exempted from stamp duty irrespective of the cost of their house, backdated to March 31st.
The legislation copies Fianna Fáil's conservative election proposals which resisted calls for greater cuts on the grounds that they would destabilise the property market.
However, it ignores the Greens' attempts to cut stamp duty bills for older couples moving to smaller houses, and for younger couples with children seeking larger properties.
Acknowledging that the Greens had not secured concessions from Fianna Fáil, Mr Boyle said the party would continue to press for changes in future budgets.
In the legislation Minister for Finance Brian Cowen will abolish stamp duty for all first-time buyers, regardless of the size of the property and regardless of whether it is new or second-hand.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil promised during the election that it would make changes in the next budget to improve mortgage interest relief for first-time buyers and for those who had bought a house in the past seven years.
From 2008 those qualifying will be able to claim mortgage interest on up to €10,000 worth of repayments for singles, and on up to €20,000 for couples.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil made clear that qualifying homeowners would be able to claim back 20 per cent of mortgage interest in the future, even once standard tax rates fall below that.
Fianna Fáil Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said the Government wanted the stamp duty changes to bring certainty back into the housing market.
"Stability is the key here; there was so much discussion about stamp duty last year that it had a knock-on effect on the property market. It was one of the factors, not the only one," he told the Sunday Independent.
"The Government wants to bring certainty back there.
"It was only a new house that qualified up to now [for stamp duty exemption]. The extension of that to the second-hand house is very significant because it means in older communities new purchasers can renew those areas.
"The developers and the builders are not at a comparative advantage in relation to the exemption from stamp duty with the first-time buyer's house, and in that sense it makes the market for the first-time buyer more competitive."
However, he pointed out that Ireland was one of a few countries in western Europe that had no property tax on residential property.
"There are huge anomalies in stamp duty, but unless you're going to persuade the public to have a property tax at a certain per cent on all residential property, I don't think you're going to be able to abolish stamp duties," he told the newspaper.
"People don't like paying stamp duty but they know for definite what stamp duty they will or will not be paying in the next few years, and that's an enormous help to the market," he said.
