Vol. 547 No. 1
400 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons who have availed of the provision in the Finance Act, 1998, for capital allowances for the construction of approved park and ride facilities; if the number who have applied so far for this relief is below expectation; if so, the reason therefor; his plans to improve the attraction of this scheme, so that park and ride facilities are provided. [1382/02]
This provision was introduced in the Finance Act, 1998, and guidelines were issued in August 1999. A problem emerged in relation to certain state aid aspects and a solution had to be negotiated with the European Commission. This resulted in amendments to the tax legislation in the Finance Act, 2001, which confined the capital allowances on the business elements to local services.
Under the relevant legislation, applications have to be made in the first instance to the local authority in whose area the application for the park and ride facility is proposed. My Department has no up-to-date information on this matter, due to the fact that information from tax returns is not recorded in such a way that it would be possible to provide an estimate of the number of persons who have availed of capital allowances for the construction of park and ride facilities. However, we are asking the Department of the Environment and Local Government to contact all relevant local authorities. When the relevant information has been obtained, the matter will be reviewed by my Department in consultation with the Departments of the Environment and Local Government and Public Enterprise and the Dublin Transportation Office.
