Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No. The attachment to Georgian buildings would have a particular impact on Limerick, which was the first city designated, and, to some extent, on Waterford. In the cost benefit analysis, the consultants involved recommended that if we applied it to all types of architecture and picked a date, it would be a more effective and a better targeted scheme. The reason for 1915 was that seemingly the First World War brought about a situation where there was very little building. There is a kind of natural fire break if one picks 1915. Those administering the scheme will not be getting into arguments about whether the property was built in 1915, 1916 or 1917 because there was very little building in the years following 1915. The year 1915 was picked purely to help the administration. It is pre-First World War. There was a lot built in the 1930s but we do not want to include that.

On the issue of Bray, I do not know whether this scheme will work. One tries lots of things and some work but others do not. I hope it will work because if it does, it will revitalise dying areas of cities which badly need to be revitalised. We should see it in the first years as a pilot scheme. If it is effective, I would not be reluctant to extend it to towns like Bray but not at present and not for the purposes of the pilot scheme.