Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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120. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will extend the living city initiative to all provincial towns to incentivise persons to move back into town centres to help revitalise towns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32316/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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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.

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.

The Deputy may wish to note that the recently launched "Realising our Rural Potential: Action Plan for Rural Development" by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs contains a detailed list of actions and priorities with a view to revitalising rural Ireland generally. This effort is being led by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in conjunction with Ministers and officials from other Departments, as well as the Local Authorities and a range of other stakeholders.

A variety of actions included in this plan aim to assist in improving rural towns and making rural Ireland a better place to live. These include the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, under which funding of up to €12 million per annum is available to revitalise rural towns and villages, while there is also a commitment to develop and pilot an initiative to encourage increased residential occupancy in town and village centres.

Furthermore, the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) provides for an income tax credit for homeowners or landlords of residential property, who carry out repair, renovation or improvement works on their property. It provides for tax relief by way of an income tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure. Qualifying work must cost a minimum of €5,000 (including VAT). The maximum qualifying cost for the purpose of the incentive is (€30,000 including VAT), which equates to a maximum tax credit of €4,050. The tax credit is payable over the two years following the year in which the work is paid for. The Deputy may be aware that the incentive was extended for a further two years in the last Budget.