Update March 7th 2013:
I interviewed Pat Moland of The Irish Tax and Customs Revenue – or The Revenue Commissioners [on The garden radio show] as they are better known, to discuss the Home Revenue Incentive Scheme [HRI] from both the client and contractors perspective.
The Home Renovation Incentive Scheme (HRI), according to CitizensInformation.ie is:
A new Revenue scheme enables homeowners to claim tax relief on repairs, renovations or improvement work that is carried out on their homes by tax-compliant contractors and is subject to 13.5% VAT.
The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) will be paid in the form of a tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure, which can be set against your income tax over 2 years. In general, qualifying work must be done between 25 October 2013 and 31 December 2015.