This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'State aid NN 30/2009 (ex N 660/2008) - request for documents'.



Ref. Ares(2013)697534 - 15/04/2013
Ref. Ares(2014)69823 - 14/01/2014
Part III.5 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SHEET  
ON REGIONAL AID FOR LARGE INVESTMENT PROJECTS 
 
This supplementary information sheet must be used for the notification of any regional 
investment aid exceeding the threshold for individual notification defined in point 64 of the 
Guidelines for national regional aid for 2007-2013. 
For ad hoc aid (aid granted outside existing schemes) the Member State must also provide the 
Supplementary Information Sheet on regional aid (Part III.4). In addition, Member States will 
have to demonstrate that the project contributes towards a coherent regional development 
strategy and that, having regard to the nature and size of the project, it will not result in 
unacceptable distortions of competition. Moreover, Member States will have to demonstrate 
that the aid will not be unduly concentrated on a particular sector of activity and that it 
creates no adverse sectoral effects. 
The Commission reserves the right to ask for further information in order to carry out an in-
depth assessment if the thresholds for such an assessment as defined in point 68 of the 
Regional Aid Guidelines are reached. 
Additionally to this supplementary information sheet(s) the Member State must provide: 

ƒ  Part I. General Information 
ƒ  Part II. Summary Information for publication in the Official Journal 
The Member State must also provide the relevant investment agreement, the (draft) aid 
contract and any other relevant document (including, in the case of ad hoc aid, the letter of 
intent), in order to confirm that the granting of the aid is in conformity with the general rules 
under the Guidelines for national regional aid for 2007-2013 and with any underlying aid 
scheme. 
If amounts are converted into the euro or other currencies, please provide the implicit 
exchange rate assumptions. Please always indicate if the amounts mentioned are in nominal 
amounts or discounted. 

1.  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON BENEFICIARIES 
1.1. Structure of the company or companies investing in the project 
1.1.1.  Identity of aid recipient(s):  The aid beneficiaries are a large number of individuals 
together with a small number of corporate entities (as set out in appendix  2 attached) sharing  
ownership of the hotel and can, therefore,  claim the capital allowances provided in respect of 
the element of the sale price that can qualify for such allowances. In this case the amount of 
qualifying expenditure is 
€212,360,683.  The various investors who own distinct elements of 
the hotel have leased their element of the hotel to the hotel operator (Carrylane Limited who 
in turn has entered into a management/operating agreement to manage the hotel  with the 
Ritz Carlton Hotel Group.   See paragraphs 8 to 10 of Appendix 1 for more detailed 
information.     
……………………………………………………………………………... 
 
1.1.2. If the legal identity of the aid recipient is different from the undertaking(s) that 
finance(s) the project or from the actual beneficiary(ies) of the aid, describe also these 
differences.   
 
Not applicable.   
………………………………………………………………………………... 

1.1.3.  Please give a clear description of the relation between the beneficiary, the group of 
enterprises it belongs to and other associated enterprises, including joint ventures.  
See paragraphs 8 to 10 of Appendix 1. 
 
1.2. 
For the company or companies investing in the project,  
provide the following data for the last three financial years (at group level). 
1.2.1.  Worldwide turnover, EEA turnover, turnover in the Member State concerned:  
Since the beneficiaries are either private individual investors or  partnerships or 
corporate bodies  created or combined for the sole purpose of this investment project 
they did not hold any market share before the making of the investment .   
………………………………………………………………………………... 
1.2.2 Net operating income, return on capital employed and free cash flow: Since the 
beneficiaries are either private individual investors or   partnerships or corporate 
bodies created or combined for the sole purpose of this investment project they did not 
have net operating income, a return on capital employed or free cash flow in the 
period concerned before the start of the project.     
……………………………………………………………………………... 
1.2.3.  Employment worldwide, at EEA level and in the Member State concerned:  
 
This information is not available for the reasons outlined at Points 1.2.1 and 1.2.2.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
1.2.4.  Audited financial statements and annual report(s) for the last three years: This 
information is not available for the reasons outlined at Points 1.2.1 and 1.2.2  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
1.3. 
If the investment takes place in an existing establishment (plant),  
provide the following data for the last three financial years of that entity (data for the 
existing establishment/plant). Not applicable
1.3.1.  Worldwide turnover, EEA turnover, turnover in Member State concerned: 
 Not 
applicable
………………………………………………………………………………..

1.3.2.  Net operating income, return on capital employed and free cash flow: Not applicable. 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
1.3.3. Employment: Not applicable.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
1.3.4.  Aid history - Did the beneficiary receive aid for any other investment in the same 
establishment (plant) in the last three years? Not applicable.  
 yes 
  
 no 
If yes, please give more details: 
 ………………………………………………………………………………... 
1.4. Firms 
in 
difficulty 
Does the aid benefit a firm in difficulty1 or will it be used for the financial 
restructuring of a firm in difficulty?  
 yes 
  
 no 
 
                                                 
1   As defined in the Community guidelines on state aid for Rescuing and Restructuring firms in difficulty (OJ 
C 244, 1.10.2004, p. 2). 

If yes, please note that the Community guidelines on State aid for rescuing and 
restructuring firms in difficulty are applicable. 
 
2.  AID 
2.1. 
Form of aid 
Please give a detailed description of each form of aid:  
There is one form of aid being the provision of accelerated industrial buildings capital 
allowances on hotels   at a rate of 15%   for 6 years and 10% in the 7th  year. This is   
instead of the normal industrial buildings capital allowances of 4% per annum over 
25 years.  Therefore, it is our understanding that the maximum aid intensity under the 
scheme is 12.5%.  With regard to this project the aid intensity is 11.37%.  Eligible 
expenditure under the scheme is confined to costs arising from the construction of the 
hotel building. The qualifying construction costs incurred in 2007 and to 31 July 2008 
are restricted to 75% and 50% respectively as a result of the previous EU approval to 
extend the termination date for pipeline projects to 31 July 2008. The eligible 
expenditure does not include costs incurred on land and plant and machinery 
acquisition.
   
………………………………………………………………………………... 
2.2. 
Amount of aid 
For each form of aid, provide the following information: 
2.2.1.  Amount of support, both in nominal and discounted terms: See Paragraph   14 of 
Appendix 1.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
2.2.2.  A complete schedule of the payment of the proposed assistance: It is anticipated that 
the beneficiaries of the aid will claim the first years accelerated relief in 2008 or as 
soon as  Commission approval of the aid is secured for the tax year 2007 and on this 
basis relief will be claimed on an  annual basis
 until 2014 for the tax year 2013.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
In case of aid awarded in the form of exemptions on future taxes, please indicate how 
the discounted aid amount will be capped: 
………………………………………………………………………………….  
2.2.3.  The applicable existing aid scheme(s), including title, state aid number and reference 
to Commission approval, submission under interim procedure, or supplementary 
information sheet pursuant to an exemption regulation: Capital Allowances 
Depreciation Regime for Hotels N 832/2000. Related Case State Aid No 232/2006 
Transitional Extension to Capital Allowances Depreciation Regime for Hotels in 
Ireland (ex 832/2000). 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
2.2.4.  The application for aid was submitted before work was started on the project and the 
competent authorities have confirmed in writing that, subject to the final outcome of a 
detailed verification, the project meets the conditions of eligibility laid down by the 
scheme. 
 yes 
  
 no 

If no, please explain. The scheme is an approved tax aid scheme. Aid is granted 
automatically if an aid applicant satisfies all the relevant criteria set out in national 
tax legislation.      
……………………………………………………………………………………... 
 
2.3. Characteristics 
2.3.1.  Are any of the assistance measures of the overall package not yet defined? 
 yes 
  
 no 
If yes, please specify, and explain how the total discounted aid amount will be capped: 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
2.3.2.  Indicate which of the abovementioned measures does not constitute State aid and for 
what reason(s): 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
2.3.3.  How is it ensured that the aid is made conditional on the maintenance of the 
investment or the jobs created for a minimum period of five years in case of large 
companies and three years in case of SMEs? 
            ………………………………………………………………………………… 
 
2.4. 
Financing from Community and other sources  
2.4.1.  Are some of the abovementioned measures to be co-financed by Community funds 
(European Investment Bank, European Social Fund, European Regional Development 
Fund, other)? Please explain. The project is not co-financed by any such funds
………………………………………………………………………………... 
2.4.2.  Is some additional support for the same project to be requested from any other 
European or international financing institutions? 
 yes 
  
 no 
If so, for what amounts? 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
2.5. Reporting 
 
Please confirm that the following documents will be provided to the Commission: 
  within 2 months of granting the aid, a copy of the aid contract between the 
granting authority and the beneficiary; 
6  on a five-yearly basis, starting from the approval of the aid by the Commission, an 
intermediary report (including information on the aid amounts being paid, on the 
execution of the aid contract and on any other investment projects started at the 
same establishment/plant); 
6  within 6 months after payment of the last tranche of the aid, based on the notified 
payment schedule, a detailed final report. 

3.  ASSISTED PROJECT 
3.1. Timeline 
Specify the planned start date of the investment, the planned date of completion of the 
investment and the planned year by which full production will be reached, if necessary 
for each product envisaged by the investment project.  
The original planning permission was granted for the development in 1999 and 
further revisions were made subsequent to this. Construction work on the project 
commenced in January 2005 and concluded in October 2007. The hotel opened for 
business in October 2007.     
 
3.2. 
Description of the project 
3.2.1.  Specify the type of the project and whether it is a new establishment; the 
extension of an existing establishment; diversification of the output of an 
establishment into new, additional products; a fundamental change in the overall 
production process of an existing establishment; or the acquisition of capital assets 
directly linked to an establishment by an independent investor which has closed or 
which would have closed had it not been purchased: The project is a new 
establishment. 
 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
3.2.2.  Provide a short description of the project: The project concerned is a hotel, the Ritz 
Carlton, located in Powerscourt, County Wicklow which is in the Mid East Sub 
Region and the following paragraph is a summary of the project details
.    
•  The hotel comprises of 200 rooms.  
•  The original planning permission was granted for the development in 1999 and 
further revisions were made subsequent to this. Construction work on the project 
commenced in January 2005 and concluded in October 2007.  

•  The hotel opened for business in October 2007.  
•  The hotel is a large but compact  7 storey building.  
•  It is run by the operating firm Carrylane Limited (which has a management 
agreement in place with the Ritz Carlton Hotel Group).  
•  The construction was undertaken by a subsidiary, Carrylane Limited, of one property 
development company Treasury Holdings.  
•  The total sale cost of the hotel is circa €224.4m. 
The total amount of eligible  expenditure for accelerated hotel capital allowances is 
circa  €212.4m.
 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
3.3. 
Breakdown of the project costs 
3.3.1.  Specify the total cost of the investment over the lifetime of the project:    
 
€224,408,314.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
3.3.2.  Provide a detailed breakdown per year and per category (land, buildings, 
plant/machinery, or other) of the eligible costs associated with the investment project, 
where relevant for each product envisaged by the investment project: Not applicable 
as there is one product/service, the provision of hotel accommodation,   provided by 
the project.  


………………………………………………………………………………... 
3.4. 
Financing of total project costs  
Please provide a complete description of the financing of the project and how it 
ensures that at least 25% of the eligible costs are financed in a way which is free of 
public support, including de minimis aid. See Appendix 1.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.  PRODUCT AND MARKET CHARACTERISTICS  
In this section, if applicable, please take account of any relevant marketing or similar 
arrangements with other companies for the calculation of the capacity and the market 
share (e.g. exclusive licenses for sales). 
4.1. 
Characterisation of product(s) envisaged by the project 
4.1.1.  Specify all the product(s) that will be produced in the aided facility upon the 
completion of the investment and indicate, where appropriate, the Prodcom code or 
CPA nomenclature for projects in the service sectors. The project sole output is a 
service activity, the provision of hotel accommodation which falls under the CPA 
Nomenclature of Hotels NACE Code H.55.10.    
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.1.2.  Will the products envisaged by the project replace any other products produced by the 
beneficiary (at group level)? What product(s) will it replace? If these replaced 
products are not produced at the location of the project, indicate where they are 
currently produced. Please provide a description of the link between the replaced 
production and the current investment and give a time schedule for the replacement.  
No……………………………………………………………………………... 
4.1.3.  What other product(s) can be produced with the same new facilities (through 
flexibility of the production installations of the beneficiary) at little or no additional 
cost? 
……None…………………………………………………………………………... 
4.2. 
Product concerned and relevant product market 
4.2.1.  Explain if the project concerns an intermediate product and if a significant part of the 
output is not sold on the market (under market conditions). Based on the above 
explanation, for the purpose of calculating the market share and capacity increase in 
the remainder of this section, please indicate if the product concerned is the product 
envisaged by the project or if it is the downstream product. 
The project does not produce an intermediate product. 
…………………………………………………………………... 
4.2.2.  Please indicate the demand side substitutes and the supply side substitutes of the 
product concerned. The relevant product market includes the product concerned and 
its substitutes considered to be such either by the consumer (by reason of the product's 
characteristics, prices and intended use) or by the producer (through flexibility of the 
production installations of the beneficiary and its competitors). It is our understanding 
that there are no identifiable demand side or supply side substitutes in this instance.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.3. 
Market share data 

Please answer the following questions for all products concerned. 
4.3.1.  For the purpose of applying point 68(a) of the RAG, the Commission will normally 
assume that the relevant geographic market is the European Economic Area (EEA). 
Please provide arguments if another geographic market for the product(s) is 
considered relevant.    It is our view that the EEA is the relevant geographic market 
although it should be noted that guests will come from all around the world. 
.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.3.2.  Please provide an estimate of all sales of the aid recipient on the relevant 
market (at group level, in value and volume terms), from the year preceding the start 
year of the investment to the year following full production of the product envisaged 
by the project. If applicable, provide a breakdown of these sales into product 
concerned and other categories of products sold by the aid beneficiary on the relevant 
market. Since the beneficiaries are either private individual investors or  created or 
combined for the sole purpose of this investment project there is no relevant data for 
the year of investment or the preceding year.
     
 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.3.3.  Please provide an estimate of the overall sales of all producers on the relevant market 
(in value and volume terms), from the year preceding the start year of the investment 
to the year following full production of the product envisaged by the project. If 
available, include statistics prepared by public and/or independent sources. 
It is our understanding that this information is not included in statistics provided by 
public or independent sources.  It is also our understanding, that due to the relatively  
insignificant amount of additional capacity in terms of additional bed places provided 
by the project i.e. 800,   in comparison with the total  number of bed places in hotels 
and similar establishments in the EEA  11,537,218 (source Eurostat Pocketbook 
Tourism Statistics 2008) that the possibility of the project exceeding 25% of market 
share in the EEA cannot arise.
  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.3.4.  Please explain the methodology underlying the estimates and the implicit price 
assumptions. See 4.3.3.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.4. Market 
evolution 
Please answer the following questions for all products concerned. 
4.4.1.  Provide for each of the last six years data on apparent consumption2 (in value and 
volume terms) in the relevant product market in the EEA. Please also provide implicit 
price assumptions. If available, include statistics prepared by public and/or 
independent sources. This information is not available at NACE Level  H.55.10 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.4.2.  Please calculate from the above figures the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) 3 
of apparent consumption in the relevant product market in the EEA. See response to 
4.4.1. 
………………………………………………………………………………... 
                                                 
2   Apparent consumption is production plus imports minus exports. If no apparent consumption data are 
readily available, other relevant data can be used. 
3   The CAGR is calculated as [y(t) / y(t – 5)]1/5 – 1. 

4.4.3.  Please calculate the average annual growth rate of the EEA’s GDP over the last five 
years as a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) using Eurostat figures4 
(www.eu.int/comm/eurostat/ – currently the figures can be found under 
“Themes/Economy and finance/National accounts/Annual national accounts/GDP and 
main aggregates”
). Not applicable, see response to 4.4.1. Although it should be noted 
that according to Page 21 Table 3.1.2. of  Eurostat Pocketbook Tourism Statistics 
2008 the growth of Tourism receipts has exceed GDP growth for each of the years 
1995 to 2006.  On this basis it is felt that it is appropriate to indicate no to the 
question at point 4.4.4.    
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.4.4.  Is the average annual growth rate of the apparent consumption on the relevant product 
market in the EEA over the last five years below the average annual growth rate of the 
EEA GDP over the last five years? 
 yes 
  
 no 
4.5. Capacity 
considerations 
Please answer the following questions for all products concerned. 
If from point 4.4 on market evolution follows that the average annual growth rate of 
the apparent consumption on the relevant market is below the average annual growth 
rate of the EEA GDP, provide the following information: 
4.5.1.  Provide an estimate of the production capacity created by the investment (in volume 
and value terms). Not applicable see point 4.4.3 and 4.4.4.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
4.5.2.  Provide an estimate of any changes in the total capacity of the beneficiary (at group 
level) in the EEA between the year preceding the start year of the project and the year 
following completion of the project (in volume and in value terms). Please also 
provide implicit price assumptions. If available, include statistics prepared by public 
and/or independent sources.   Not applicable see point 4.4.3 and 
4.4.4..
………………………………………………………………………………... 
 
4.5.3.  Provide an estimate of the total apparent consumption on the relevant product 
market(s) in the EEA for the year preceding the start year and for the year following 
the completion of the project (in volume and in value terms). Please also provide 
implicit price assumptions. If available, include statistics prepared by public and/or 
independent sources. Not applicable see point 4.4.3 and 4.4.4. 
.…………………………………………………………………………… 
 
5.  OTHER INFORMATION 
Please indicate here any other information (e.g. environmental impacts or benefits) 
you consider relevant to the assessment of the measure(s) concerned. See Appendix 1 
attached.  
………………………………………………………………………………... 
 
 
                                                 
4   EU25 can be used as a proxy for the EEA in this context. 

 
 
 
 

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