(1) In this section―

"pre-school child" and "pre-school service" have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 49 of the Child Care Act, 1991;

[''property developer" means a person carrying on a trade which consists wholly or mainly of the construction or refurbishment of buildings or structures with a view to their sale;]¹

["qualifying expenditure" means capital expenditure incurred on the construction, conversion or refurbishment of a qualifying premises;]²

["qualifying period" means the period commencing on 1 December 1999 and ending—

(a) on 30 September 2010, or

(b) where subsection (6)(a) applies, on 31 March 2011, or

(c) where subsection (6)(b) applies, on 31 March 2012;]³

"qualifying premises" means a building or structure which―

(a) apart from this section is not an industrial building or structure within the meaning of section 268, and

(b) is in use for the purposes of providing―

(i) a pre-school service, or

(ii) a pre-school service and a day-care or other service to cater for children other than pre-school children,

and in respect of which it can be shown (to the extent that it is being used for the purposes of providing a pre-school service) that [the requirements of Regulation 10 or 11(1), as appropriate, of the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No. 2) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 604 of 2006)]⁴, have been complied with,

but does not include any part of a building or structure in use as or as part of a dwelling-house.

(2) [Subject to subsections (2A) to (5)]¹, the provisions of the Tax Acts relating to the making of allowances or charges in respect of capital expenditure incurred on the construction or refurbishment of an industrial building or structure shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in those provisions, apply in relation to qualifying expenditure on a qualifying premises―

(a) as if a qualifying premises were, at all times at which it is a qualifying premises, a building or structure in respect of which an allowance is to be made for the purposes of income tax or corporation tax, as the case may be, under Part 9 by reason of its use for a purpose specified in section 268(1)(a), and

(b) where any activity carried on in the qualifying premises is not a trade, as if it were a trade.

(2A) An allowance shall be given by virtue of subsection (2) in relation to any qualifying expenditure on a qualifying premises only in so far as that expenditure is incurred in the qualifying period.

(3) In relation to qualifying expenditure [incurred in the qualifying period]¹ on a qualifying premises section 272 shall apply as if―

(a) in subsection (3)(a)(ii) of that section the reference to 4 per cent were a reference to 15 per cent, ...²

[(b) subject to paragraph (c), in subsection (4)(a)(ii) of that section the reference to 25 years were a reference to 7 years, and

(c) in the case of a qualifying premises which―

(i) is first used on or after 1 February 2007, or

(ii) where qualifying expenditure on the refurbishment or conversion of the qualifying premises is incurred, is, subsequent to the incurring of that expenditure, first used on or after 1 February 2007,

in subsection (4)(a) of that section, the following were substituted for subparagraph (ii):

"(ii) 15 years beginning with the time when the building or structure was first used, or where capital expenditure on the refurbishment or conversion of the building or structure is incurred, 15 years beginning with the time when the building or structure was first used subsequent to the incurring of that expenditure."]³

(3A) For the purposes of the application, by subsection (2), of sections 271 and 273 in relation to qualifying expenditure incurred on or after 1 December 1999 on a qualifying premises―

(a) section 271 shall apply―

(i) as if in subsection (1) of that section the definition of "industrial development agency" were deleted,

(ii) as if in subsection (2)(a)(i) of that section "to which subsection (3) applies" were deleted,

(iii) as if subsection (3) of that section were deleted,

(iv) as if the following subsection were substituted for subsection (4) of that section:

"(4) An industrial building allowance shall be an amount equal to 100 per cent of the capital expenditure mentioned in subsection (2)."

and

(v) as if subsection (5) of that section were deleted,

and

(b) section 273 shall apply―

(i) as if in subsection (1) of that section the definition of "industrial development agency" were deleted, and

(ii) as if subsections (2)(b) and (3) to (7) of that section were deleted.

(4) Notwithstanding section 274(1)[, but subject to subsection (4A)]¹, no balancing allowance or balancing charge shall be made in relation to a qualifying premises by reason of any event referred to in that section which occurs―

(a) more than 10 years after the qualifying premises was first used, or

(b) in a case where section 276 applies, more than 10 years after the qualifying expenditure on refurbishment of the qualifying premises was incurred.

(4A) In the case of a qualifying premises to which subparagraph (i) or (ii) of subsection (3)(c) applies, then notwithstanding section 274(1), no balancing allowance or balancing charge shall be made in relation to a qualifying premises by reason of any event referred to in that section which occurs―

(a) where subparagraph (i) of subsection (3)(c) applies, more than 15 years after the qualifying premises was first used, or

(b) where subparagraph (ii) of subsection (3)(c) applies, more than 15 years after the qualifying premises was first used subsequent to the incurring of the qualifying expenditure on the refurbishment or conversion of the qualifying premises.

(5) Subsections (3) and (3A) shall not apply in respect of qualifying expenditure incurred on a qualifying premises on or after 1 January 2008—

(a) where a property developer or a person who is connected (within the meaning of section 10) with the property developer is entitled to the relevant interest, within the meaning of section 269, in that qualifying expenditure, and

(b) either of the persons referred to in paragraph (a) incurred the qualifying expenditure on that qualifying premises, or such expenditure was incurred by any other person connected (within the meaning of section 10) with the property developer.

(6)(a) For the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of "qualifying period", this paragraph applies where—

(i) capital expenditure is incurred on the construction, conversion or refurbishment of a qualifying premises,

(ii) the construction, conversion or refurbishment work on the qualifying premises represented by that expenditure is exempted development for the purposes of the Planning and Development Act 2000 by virtue of section 4 of that Act or by virtue of Part 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (S.I. No. 600 of 2001) (in this subsection referred to as the "Regulations of 2001"), and

(iii) not less than 30 per cent of the total construction, conversion or refurbishment costs has been incurred on or before 30 September 2010.

(b) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of "qualifying period", this paragraph applies where—

(i) capital expenditure is incurred on the construction, conversion or refurbishment of a qualifying premises,

(ii) a planning application (not being an application for outline permission within the meaning of section 36 of the Planning and Development Act 2000), in so far as planning permission is required, in respect of the construction, conversion or refurbishment work on the qualifying premises represented by that expenditure, is made in accordance with the Regulations of 2001,

(iii) an acknowledgement of the application, which confirms that the application was received on or before 30 September 2010, is issued by the planning authority in accordance with article 26(2) of the Regulations of 2001, and

(iv) the application is not an invalid application in respect of which a notice was issued by the planning authority in accordance with article 26(5) of the Regulations of 2001.

(7) For the purposes only of determining, in relation to a claim for an allowance by virtue of subsection (2), whether and to what extent capital expenditure incurred on the construction, conversion or refurbishment of a qualifying premises is incurred or not incurred in the qualifying period, only such an amount of that capital expenditure as is properly attributable to work on the construction, conversion or refurbishment of the premises actually carried out during the qualifying period shall (notwithstanding any other provision of the Tax Acts as to the time when any capital expenditure is or is to be treated as incurred) be treated as having been incurred in that period.