Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, announced good news for first time buyers. After already significantly increasing mortgage interest relief in the summer, he announced a further increase today.

Mortgage Interest Relief will increase to a maximum of €10,000 for a single person and €20,000 for a married couple.

This will result in extrax tax relief of up to €33 for a single person (increasing it up to a maximum €166.66 per month) and up to €66 for a couple per month (resulting in a maximum €333.33 tax back per month).