Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 April 2015
138. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Finance if he will report on the current status of the living cities initiative; if approval has been received from the European Commission; and if the initiative, which has significant potential for urban areas across all cities, is being sufficiently publicised. [16814/15]
View answerThe purpose of the Living City Initiative is to provide an urban regeneration incentive to certain areas of six cities, namely Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford, which are most in need of regeneration. A number of amendments were made to the Living City Initiative in Finance Act 2014 to ensure that the scheme was in accordance with EU State aid rules. These include the imposition of a cap on the level of relief for the commercial element of the scheme. This means the scheme now falls within the de minimis regulation. My officials are in discussions with the relevant local authorities and Revenue regarding operationalizing the scheme. Officials from my Department have held discussions with the relevant local authorities to identify the areas of the six cities which might fall within the scope of the scheme. The Living City Initiative will be launched shortly, and as part of that launch, details of the special regeneration areas will be made public.
It is important to note that I do not see this as a wide-spread Initiative, as it is targeted at those areas which are most in need of attention.
