Vol. 528 No. 1
69 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason a property in County Mayo has been excluded from the town renewal scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25498/00]
The expert panel on town renewal recommended that incentives be refused for the properties referred to by the Deputy as they were in the view of the panel capable of being developed without the aid of incentives given their central position in the town. To award incentives in these cases would constitute deadweight, that is, support for development likely to proceed without the aid of tax incentives. The guidelines for the scheme required that scarce public resources must be targeted at areas of greatest need and potential and incentives could only be justified where it could be shown that they would assist in overcoming identifiable barriers to desired development. The guidelines also required that the selection process should also address issues such as deadweight. To have awarded incentives in this case would have been contrary to the objectives of the scheme and hence, the panel did not recommend these sites for incentives.
The role of the expert panel was to assess the county councils proposals and recommend sites for designation on the basis of the plans submitted by county councils. The panel exercised an independent role in assessing the various plans submitted, their recommendations were accepted in full and this formed the basis on which the designations were announced.
Question No. 70 taken with Question No. 20.
