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

There were some other schemes and I abolished and phased out most of them. I am not saying we will bring them back, but I do not think we should exclude the tax incentivisation of projects for social or economic purposes from the tax code as a matter of principle. The living city initiative has been ratified for state aid purposes. The de minimisamendments being proposed do not extend the scope of the scheme beyond the existing designated areas. Two things are being changed. First, I am changing the square footage limitation because it has inhibited the scheme. We introduced it to avoid abuse, but it has limited the scheme to the point that there has been hardly any uptake in some cities. Second, I am extending the scheme to landlords because, as all Members of the Dáil have pointed out, there is a rental crisis, a shortage of rental accommodation and a homelessness crisis. We must incentivise the supply of suitable rental accommodation if we can. If we can introduce tax breaks to make it worthwhile for somebody to turn a Georgian building of four storeys over a basement into modern and well fitted-out apartments, that can make a big contribution to the availability of rental accommodation. I do not think the scheme will work unless the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government changes some of its regulatory regimes. Frankly, it is too costly to refurbish an old building. The policy intention and desire of Parliament is not being matched by the regulatory regime imposed on developers who might carry it out. I am not looking for low-quality development or anything like it. I am not in the business of arguing that case. It is possible that this minor and low-cost proposal will make another contribution to a series of initiatives that have been brought forward by the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government with the intention of increasing the supply of residential accommodation for purchase and rental. I am using the living city initiative which has not been very successful as a vehicle at this stage because it had already passed muster under state aid rules. If we were to start a new scheme, we would have to pass the state aid test again and it would be another two or three years before we could get it across the line.