Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has said that increasing the threshold for Inheritance Tax, as planned by Fine Gael, will come as a relief to thousands of family in Dun Laoghaire and the greater Dublin area.

“The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, today (Sunday) outlined Fine Gael’s plan to increase the inheritance tax threshold from €280,000 to €500,000 over the lifetime of the next government.

“This will mean that the majority of families living in modest homes will no longer be burdened with massive tax bills when they inherit family homes.

“For some time I have been highlighting what I felt to be the extremely unfair rates of inheritance tax affecting ordinary families and I very much welcome the news that, under Fine Gael, the threshold  will increase.

“It is thanks to our recovering economy that we can cut taxes and improve services all over the country. Fine Gael has a long term economic plan designed to keep the recovery going which will ensure we can continue to make these kinds of investments.

“The plan has three steps: more and better jobs, making work pay more than welfare, and investment in better public services, which will only be possible as a result of the increased revenue generated by creating more jobs. This plan will ensure that more people feel the benefits of a recovering economy in their own lives.”