Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 54, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: "(3) The Principal Act is amended in 372AAB in part (a) by deleting the words "immediately prior to conversion" and replacing with "for a period not less than 5 years prior" and in part (b) by deleting the words "immediately prior to conversion" and replacing with "for a period not less than 5 years prior,".".

Amendment No. 24 relates to the so-called living city initiative. There is a widening of the living city initiative to include a number of other cities despite the fact that the initiative has not been up and running in the two cities identified for it in the Finance Bill 2013. We have seen a trend of the Government introducing policy without any evidence to back it up. One is supposed to allow a pilot scheme take effect, assess it after a while and if it is worthy, expand it or roll it out nationally, but that is not the approach the Minister has taken.

The key to this amendment is in the Bill. The amendment refers to the Principal Act. It amends the Bill, first, by deleting the words "immediately prior to conversion" and replacing them with "for a period not less than 5 years prior". The reason for this can be found in the original living city initiative, and because the Minister is expanding the scope of it. The Finance Act 2013 states:

'conversion' in relation to a building, structure or house, means any work of—(a) conversion into a house of a building or part of a building where the building or, as the case may be, the part of the building has not, immediately prior to the conversion, been in use as a dwelling...

The key point here is that this initiative is aimed at buildings that have not been lived in. Obviously, the name, "living city initiative" is to get people back living in the city. However, the definition of conversion is that it is not, "immediately prior to the conversion," lived in. Earlier we dealt with an amendment where persons had to be unemployed continuously "for the period of 12 months immediately" before. Therefore, there is a definition of "immediately". It means straight before.

The question here is how long does somebody have to be not living in the house before he or she can apply for this scheme. As I stated on Committee Stage, although we do not know what parts of Dublin will be designated, let us say a part of Dublin around the canal was designated where there is a house built pre-1915 in which somebody is living. This scheme is so lucrative it is unbelievable. If one has the tax liability to avail of it over the period of ten years, it is a 100% grant. How long does somebody have to leave the house unoccupied for him or her to avail of this grant? The definition under the original section is that "the building has not, immediately prior to the conversion, been in use as a dwelling". My reading of the Act - this is why I seek clarity - is that it would apply if one was not there for a month, two months or a year. What is meant by "immediately prior"? If we look at what we dealt with earlier in terms of 12 months of continuous unemployment immediately prior to taking up the position, then that means the day before. It will be interesting to hear the Minister of State's response.

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