‘Living over the shop’ gets new lease of life

The Government tonight launched a plan to make more use of room at the top.

The scheme offered property owners tax incentives to free up for residential use empty space over thousands of shops nationwide.

Housing and Urban Renewal Minister Bobby Molloy said: ‘‘We can no longer afford to allow this room at the top to become increasingly derelict, particularly at a time when we are facing strong demand for residential accommodation in our cities.

‘‘This scheme will help unlock the residential potential that exists over shops in many of the key streets of our major cities.’’

The project comes into effect from tomorrow and runs until the end of 2004 in listed streets in five cities - Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway.

Mr Molloy added: ‘‘We can now look forward to the redevelopment of living streets in the areas designated.’’