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Donegal spends 10.6m on home
improvements
27.03.17
SOME 570 Donegal
homeowners spent 10.6 million under the Home
Renovation Incentive (HRI) scheme in the past four
years, new figures show.
The statistics show that these homeowners spent an
average of 18,596 doing up their homes under the
scheme.
The HRI gives homeowners an income tax credit of
13.5% on qualifying expenditure but they must use a
tax-compliant contractor who qualifies to take on
the work.
More than 9,000 such contractors are listed
nationwide including Donegal.
The scheme has been extended until the end of 2018
and covers the main home, rental properties, civil
works and offices.
Homeowners nationally have availed of 1.2 billion
in total through the scheme since 2013 on almost
77,000 home improvement projects with an average
spend of 16,000.
Construction Industry Federation (CIF) director
general Tom Parlon said: The Home Renovation
Incentive has been very successful on several
fronts. It supported an incredible 4 billion spend
into the Irish economy in 2016. This money is
recycled into the local community by the 9,000 plus
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." |
Mr Parlon said the
incentive likely "kept many thousands of
construction workers, tradespeople and companies
afloat during the recession". Home improvements now
account for 1 in every 4 spent in the construction
industry, the figures also show.
The CIF is pushing the Government to put the
Construction Industry Register of Ireland (CIRI) on
a statutory footing. The register would only allow
the names of building companies "operating at the
highest standards". |
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