Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Living City Initiative was enacted in the Finance Act 2013 and commenced on 5th May 2015. The Initiative was extended beyond the original planned pilot cities of Limerick and Waterford, to include the cities of Dublin, Cork, Galway and Kilkenny. In line with my Department's commitment to evidence based policy-making, the inclusion of these additional four cities followed the completion of a comprehensive, independent ex-ante cost benefit analysis.

As I advised the Deputy last year, to date, take-up of the scheme has been lower than anticipated. A review was undertaken last year by my officials and this was published in the Report on Tax Expenditures (October 2016) that was released on Budget Day.

In light of the findings in the report, and in consultation with the relevant councils and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, I announced a number of changes to the scheme in Budget 2017 to make the scheme more attractive and effective. The aim is to get the design of the initiative right and working in an effective manner. It is important that the underpinning scheme is made more effective, as until that has been achieved, extension of eligibility for it to other towns or cities would be largely meaningless. Accordingly,  I do not currently propose to extend the scheme beyond the present locations.