Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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185. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the grant assistance and-or tax relief available to owners of commercial buildings who wish to renovate their premises, particularly shop-fronts; if assistance exists for commercial buildings in excess of 100 years old; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18712/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I am not aware of any grant assistance schemes operated by any Government Department for the renovation of commercial buildings.The operation of tax relief schemes are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Finance.

In this regard, a new tax relief scheme entitled the Living City Initiative was launched by the Minister for Finance last week. This initiative is a targeted pilot tax incentive scheme which aims to:

-encourage people back to the centre of Irish cities to live in older buildings (residential element),

- encourage the regeneration of central business districts (commercial element).

The commercial tax relief is given in the form of an accelerated capital allowance for “qualifying expenditure” on the refurbishment or conversion of premises within the special regeneration areas of six cities (namely Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Kilkenny and Waterford). Unlike the residential element of the scheme, the commercial/retail element is not restricted to pre-1915 buildings. The capital allowance is given at the rate of 15% of qualifying expenditure for each of the first 6 years and 10% in year 7.

There are a number of conditions governing eligibility for the scheme:

- The premises must be located within the designated special regeneration area.

- The premises must be used, after refurbishment/conversion, for retail purposes or for the provision of services within the State.

- The expenditure incurred must relate to refurbishment or conversion only.

- The expenditure must be incurred within the qualifying period. This means a 5 year period commencing with the day the scheme is commenced by Order of the Minister for Finance.

- There are overall limits on the amount of capital expenditure on any project which is to be treated as qualifying expenditure, with the maximum relief available for any individual project being capped at €200,000.

This is the only tax relief scheme currently applicable for the renovation of commercial premises. Further details in relation to the scheme, and qualifying expenditure under the scheme, may be obtained from the Department of Finance.