Vol. 530 No. 6
287 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason he has not replied to representations in connection with a query raised by a person (details supplied) in County Kildare with regard to the urban renewal scheme for Athy, County Kildare; and if he will now respond to the query. [4528/01]
A reply to these representations has now issued. However, I regret the delay in responding to the Deputy's representations.
Designations under the urban renewal scheme were based on integrated area plans – IAPs – submitted by local authorities, and were in line with recommendations made by the independent expert advisory panel on urban renewal which was established to assess all the plans submitted. The property referred to in this case was recommended for commercial and residential incentives in the IAP submitted by Kildare County Council, and these recommendations were agreed with by the expert panel. The qualifying periods for these incentives run from 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2002 – commercial; and 1 March 1999 to 31 December 2002 – residential.
For tax purposes, an hotel is defined as an industrial premises. Consequently, the commercial incentives available under the 1999 urban renewal scheme cannot apply to hotel use. When the integrated area plans were being prepared, local authorities were notified of the range of commercial and industrial incentives for which EU approval had been sought. Incentives sought for hotels related to double rent allowance and rates remission – subject to no capital allowance being claimed for that premises. The urban renewal scheme did not provide for capital allowances for hotels, as an accelerated capital allowance system for hotels is provided for in general tax legislation.
