Dirt refund fails to get off ground

Less than 50 first-time buyers have availed of a refund of tax on their savings under a scheme introduced in last year’s budget, according to new figures.

Budget 2015 saw finance minister Michael Noonan announce that the government would exclude first-time buyers from Deposit Interest Retention Tax (Dirt) on savings to fund a house purchase.

However, figures published last week show that just 43 tax refunds have been issued under the scheme so ...