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

I disagree with the Deputy. First, the scheme is not being extended to apply to any building. It is still confined to buildings built before 1915. They have to be within the designated areas set out when the scheme was initiated. There is no new designation of areas into which buildings would fall. There has been a disappointing uptake because the conditions attached to the scheme, particularly with regard to square footage, were too restrictive. A typical Georgian building in Limerick, typically three or four storeys over a basement, almost by definition falls outside the square footage requirement for the purposes of eligibility. The cost of refurbishing a prestige Georgian building is greater than that of a new-build on a greenfield site. When people looked at the numbers, they found that they did not work. The advantage of the living city initiative is that it passed muster with the European Union from a state aid perspective after two years of difficult negotiations in Brussels. It is worth persisting with for that reason. The amendments I am introducing are considered by state aid authorities in Brussels as de minimisprovisions. We can do this without needing further permission. Two changes are being made, one of which is the elimination of the restriction on square footage in the case of Georgian and other historic buildings. It is true the buildings built in our main cities before 1915 tended to be large. The scheme is targeted at such buildings. Its aim is still to encourage the regeneration of designated areas in the nominated cities. We are making de minimischanges that qualify for state aid purposes to see if they will work. A number of Deputies have stated categorically that all of the old section 23 schemes which we abolished did not work. I ask them to bear in mind that there was the availability of rental accommodation when they were in place.