The Housing Minister has insisted there are no plans to introduce a tax on unused bedrooms.
It comes after a Department of Housing survey found that the vast majority of homeowners over the age of 55 were not in favour of the idea.
Of the 1,200 people surveyed, two-thirds said they had no plans to move house in the future. Just 5% said a charge on unused bedrooms would make them reconsider.
Speaking to Newstalk this morning, Minister Eoghan Murphy denied he was considering tabling the plan.
“No, we are not considering a bedroom tax,” he said. “I don’t where that has come from.”
“What we had yesterday at a very important conference organised by my department and the ESRI was a survey on attitudes of people over the age of 55 on whether they would be willing to move home – if it was in the same area; if it was cheaper but smaller.
“It was a survey asking those types of questions but one of the things I think we need to do is more effectively manage our existing housing stock.”
More than half of the homeowners who responded to the study said they wanted to stay in their homes because they had an emotional attachment to them.
Ties to their local communities and neighbours also came up as important factors.
