John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Heritage Council policy document came about when the Heritage Council launched its January 2014 report entitled, Assessment of Possible Fiscal Incentives in Relation to the Built Heritage in Ireland's Towns. At the launch, the Minister's former Secretary General, Mr. John Moran, challenged the Heritage Council to identify the role of the small town with heritage attributes in Irish economic recovery. That is how it came about. This is the document the Heritage Council came up with. While it is a very good document, I am not sure the council has a clear understanding of how problematic it was to get clearance from the European Commission on certain matters involving the Living City initiative.

My main purpose is to put into the heads of Department of Finance officials and the Minister, going into next year, that singling out a county or counties on a certain timeline would make more sense. I know there have been other proposals to extend the Living City initiative and they have been rejected. However, I believe the simpler the parameters of this, the better. I am from Waterford and the Minister is from Limerick, but this is not some selfish political proposal. The scheme was constructed with these two locations in mind and it makes sense to stick with them, if any variance takes place. I also know that the Department of Finance is working on a tax relief scheme for older private houses, as that has been publicised today, and believe this matter should be considered in conjunction with that scheme.

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