Vol. 489 No. 5
95 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Finance if tax free facilities are available for industrial developers on lands adjacent to Kerry County airport; and, if so, the areas of land that qualify for these benefits. [8469/98]
Section 26 of the Finance Act, 1997, makes provision for the designation by order of areas immediately adjacent to seven regional airports as enterprise areas. The airports in question are Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Knock, Sligo and Waterford. The designation order may be made by the Minister for Finance after consultation with the Minister for Public Enterprise and following receipt of a proposal from or on behalf of a company intending to carry on qualifying trading operations. It would be necessary at that stage to get the approval of the EU Commission with reference to the State aids aspects of the reliefs available at the proposed regional airport enterprise areas.
Qualifying trading operations are (a) manufacturing companies which qualify under the Finance Acts for 10 per cent corporation tax and (b) internationally-traded service activities i.e. data processing, software development, technical and consulting, commercial laboratory, healthcare, research and development, media recording, training, publishing and administrative headquarters. Companies must also have been approved for financial assistance by the State industrial development agencies — Forbairt, IDA Ireland or Údarás na Gaeltachta. In this year's Finance Act, I introduced an amendment to extend the definition of qualifying trading operations to include freight-forwarding and certain allied services, subject to approval from the EU Commission.
The approval of qualifying companies will be given through a certification process involving, inter alia, Forfás and the Ministers for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Finance. The tax reliefs for the enterprise areas are those set out in section 35 of the Finance Act, 1995, and include capital allowances of up to 100 per cent on expenditure incurred on the construction or refurbishment of premises used by qualifying companies as well as a double rent allowance for ten years for the lessees of such premises. The tax reliefs for the new enterprise areas relating to the regional airports will apply from the date specified in the designation order until 31 December 1999.
As I am not in receipt of any proposal for the carrying on of such qualifying trading operations immediately adjacent to Kerry airport, no area has been designated there. The designation process, as outlined above, can only commence when qualifying projects are proposed for the area.
