Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding the living city initiative; when he expects the scheme to commence; the details of the operation of the scheme; the exact geographic areas to which it will apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31987/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Officials from my Department have held preliminary discussions with the relevant local authorities to identify the areas of the six cities, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford, which might fall within the scope of the scheme. Each of the local authorities have now submitted proposals on the areas which they believe should be included. Further discussions will be held in due course.

An application for EU State Aid approval has been submitted and my officials are in contact with officials from the European Commission. The Initiative cannot be implemented until EU State Aid approval has been received. Similarly, I will not be announcing the areas to be designated until this approval has been received and the initiative is to be commenced. It is important to note that I do not see this as a wide-spread Initiative, as it is targeted at those buildings in areas which are most in need of attention.