Property belonging to the Minister of State, Mr Joe Jacob, and his family has been included in a tax-incentive scheme announced recently by Minister of State, Mr Robert Molloy.
The Jacob family's public house, Jacob's Well, the family home, a constituency office, a beer garden and a yard at Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, were included in the scheme which was submitted to the Department of the Environment by Wicklow County Council.
The incentives, described by Minister Molloy as "a unique opportunity for our small towns", cover residential and commercial developments, and include both new developments and refurbishment of existing buildings.
Mr Jacob told The Irish Times that a major renovation was carried out on the public house in the past year and it was unlikely that any more work would be undertaken on it under the current tax scheme.
Last year, he transferred ownership of the bar to his eldest son, Noel, who, he said, made representations to the county council for the property to be included in the scheme. Mr Noel Jacob is a member of Wicklow County Council.
Under the town renewal scheme, large parts of Rathdrum have been designated for urban renewal, although not the properties on either side of Jacob's Well. The Jacob property has been designated suitable for either new construction or refurbishment.
According to the Minister of State, Mr Jacob, the scheme has the potential to do much to regenerate the 100 towns to which it applies, but he did not think in the circumstances that it was of much value to his family.
The county council had published details of the scheme last year and, following the publicity, his son made representations to the council to have the property included.
In addition to the public house, the designation covers the Minister's adjoining home. The Minister said he couldn't say what the total site area was but he wouldn't describe it as "land".
"There is the public house, a beer garden, a large yard, the office, and my home."
Mr Noel Jacob confirmed that he had sought the designation but said he did not think it would be of much use. He said a council scheme to build a new road to the rear of the property might make the designation useful but he was unsure if the tax incentives "will still be around by the time the council get around to building the road".
A spokeswoman for Remax auctioneers in Wicklow said the scheme offered an advantage to properties included in it, enhancing their value and making them more attractive to improve and let. She added that Wicklow town itself had benefited greatly from tax based incentive schemes in the recent past.
Under the tax incentive scheme, owner-occupiers can offset half the eligible construction costs over 10 years against total income. In other cases, 100 per cent of eligible construction costs can be offset, again over a 10-year period, if the work is refurbishment rather than new construction.
Section 23-style relief is available to investors or lessors. This involves 100 per cent relief of eligible construction, refurbishment or conversion costs set against Irish rental income, including income from other lettings.
Similar incentives are available for building work for commercial uses. However, the commercial elements of the scheme require EU approval for which the Government has applied. The residential incentives are already effective.
