LIMERICK homeowners have benefitted from €31.3 million in grant aid through the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) since its launch in 2013.
LIMERICK homeowners have benefitted from €31.3 million in grant aid through the Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) since its launch in 2013.This incentive has facilitated homeowners in carrying out 2,486 home improvement projects throughout Limerick over the last three years with an average spend of €12,590 per project. The extension of the HRI to rental properties in late 2014 has also added further activity to this sector.
The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) provides homeowners with an Income Tax credit at 13.5 per cent of qualifying expenditure on home improvement works carried out on a main home or rental property by qualifying contractors.
Construction Industry Federation (CIF) director general Tom Parlon said the Home Renovation Incentive has been very and supported a €4 billion spend into the Irish economy last year.
“This money is recycled into the local community by the 9,000 domestic contractors involved in delivering renovation construction across Ireland. These businesses employ a good proportion of the 140,000 people engaged in construction in Ireland,” he explained.
“The scheme costs about €85million to the Exchequer but supports a spend of more than €10 billion in the economy since 2014. Homeowners might otherwise not have spent this money or it may have been spent in the grey market at a great loss to the Exchequer.
“It’s likely that the incentive kept many thousands of construction workers, tradespeople and companies afloat during the recession. The increase in home improvement over the last three years now means that the overall Repair, Maintenance and Improvement (RMI) sector has grown to a quarter of the entire construction industry output and accounts for €1 of every €4 spent in the construction industry,” Mr Parlon concluded.
by Alan Jacques
