Twenty years of property-led urban regeneration in Ireland : outputs, impacts, implications

In the mid-1980s fiscal incentives were introduced to encourage new private residential construction and refurbishment in the inner areas of Ireland's main cities. These were subsequently extended to include the city suburbs and large towns and were abolished only in 2006. At the same time the economic context for their implementation changed radically as an economic, housing and population boom, replaced prolonged recession and population decline. This article reviews the changes to the design of these fiscal incentives over their lifetime, describes their outputs and critically assesses their impacts, intended and unintended. It argues that, in their early years, they were successful in drawing development and higher-income residents into declining areas. However, the decision to extend their lifespan and geographical focus was problematic as, during Ireland's economic boom they had less success in achieving their aims and were associated with deadweight, displacement and excess housing supply.