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Fri 05 May 2007Ahern denies U-turn on stamp duty reformAhern's speech:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday denied that Fianna Fáil had done a "U-turn" by announcing reform of stamp duty, saying it had always said it would not make commitments "way out" from an election campaign for fear of creating instability in the housing market.Mr Ahern announced at the launch of his election manifesto in the Mansion House in Dublin that stamp duty for first-time buyers would be abolished, and that the measure would be backdated and applicable to all contracts stamped from April 30th.