Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Living City Initiative (LCI) is a modest, targeted, measure which is aimed at very specific areas in urgent need of regeneration, it is provided for under sections 372AAA to 372AAD of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. It offers income or corporation tax relief for qualifying expenditure incurred in the refurbishment and conversion of qualifying residential and commercial buildings located within ‘Special Regeneration Areas' in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford.

Applications are required to be made to the relevant Local Authority in respect of residential projects. Revenue obtains information from the Local Authorities in respect to the number of applications received by them. Based on the most recent information available to Revenue, the number of total applications per eligible city since the introduction of the scheme are as follows:

It is not possible to break these applications down by year due to the low number of claimants and the need to protect taxpayer confidentiality. It is also not possible, with the data provided to Revenue, to break these applications down into successful and unsuccessful applications.

The SRAs were designated by the Minister for Finance on the advice of the relevant city councils and an independent review by a third party advisor. Specific criteria were set down in respect of the areas which should be included within the remit of the LCI which were required to be taken into account by the relevant city councils when putting forward the proposed SRAs for each city. In particular, it was stated that these should be inner city areas which are largely comprised of dwellings built before 1915, where there is above average unemployment and which demonstrate clear evidence of neglect, dereliction and under-use. It was specified that areas which are generally regarded as affluent, have high occupancy rates and which do not require regeneration should not be included in the SRAs.

The LCI was reviewed as part of the Tax Strategy Group process in 2022. The review noted that the scheme is a very specific tax incentive, established in compliance with the Department of Finance’s Tax expenditure Guidelines, with the aim of encouraging businesses and home-owners back to the centre of Irish cities in order to preserve historic buildings in the special regeneration areas. I have no plans at present to extend the scheme to further areas.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Vacant Homes Tax (VHT) as announced in Budget 2023, aims to increase the supply of homes for rent or purchase to meet demand. Legislative provision for the tax was made in the Finance Act 2022. A residential property is in the scope of VHT, if it has been occupied as a dwelling for less than 30 days in a chargeable period.

The first chargeable period for VHT commenced on 1 November 2022, ending on 31 October 2023. The first self-assessed returns were due on 7 November 2023 and the tax was payable on 1 January 2024.

I am advised by Revenue that, as of 2 April 2024, the estimated number of properties that are eligible to pay vacant homes tax is approximately 3,500.