Did I pay too much stamp duty?

Hi just joined and wondered if anyone had any knowledge of this:
I bought a house in November 2006 and paid 6% stamp duty. I am from the UK and sold my flat in the UK in 2004. My solicitor said that although I was a 1st time buyer in Ireland, the fact that I had purcahsed property in the UK meant that I had to pay stamp duty of 6% and not 3%. A few people have since told me that I should have only paid 3%.
I checked the Inland Revenue website, but couldn't find any informaion regarding this. I am out of the country at the moment, but will give them a call on Monday. In the meantime does anyone know anything about this.
Many thanks
Oct23

Please set out what you paid for the property.

Hi Artois

Purchase price €355,000. Stamp duty €21,300 - 6%

From [broken link removed] site:

First Time Buyer

A first time buyer is a person who has not previously purchased or built a house or apartment anywhere in the world and who is purchasing a house or apartment for use as their principal place of residence. Where there is more than one buyer, each of the buyers must be a first time buyer to qualify for the relief.

If you bought your second property in Ireland, then you would pay non-FTB stamp duty which, in 2006 was 6% for that value of property.

Sprite

PS - Inland Revenue (UK) are not the people to talk to about this btw - you need to talk to (Irish) Revenue as it's Irish Stamp Duty

OP - you've said you bought property in the UK, so you were not a first time buyer. Simple as that. Some people get around this by not telling about their overseas property purchases, but that's not legal.