The Government's Living City Initiative, aimed at regenerating the Georgian areas of Limerick and Waterford, should be extended to Dublin's north inner city as soon as possible, according to the Mountjoy Square Society.
Society chairman Garrett Fennell welcomed the tax incentive scheme designed to encourage people to renovate Georgian houses for residential use, but wondered why it was confined to certain areas of Limerick and Waterford.
"When assessing eligibility for the Living City Initiative, Dublin city was viewed in its entirety and . . . was deemed not to be suitable because of its relative position on the deprivation index, the increasing population and the lower than average unemployment statistics," Mr Fennell said.
"However, this blanket ana- lysis of Dublin fails to recog-nise the significant divergences that exist, particularly within an area of north inner city Dublin, which is extremely deprived and contains a significant portion of original Georgian housing stock."
The society is calling on Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan to extend the initiative to areas covering Gardiner Street and Parnell Square soon after the Finance Bill 2013 is passed.
