Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the highlights of the 2018 work programme for Waterways Ireland is to complete the redevelopment of the Royal Canal towpath and progress its development. We are going to deliver a prioritised infrastructure and maintenance programme focused on areas of greatest use and benefit to ensure 90% of navigable waterways are open to navigation from mid-March to October. We will continue to promote the existing blueway products on the River Shannon and the Shannon-Erne Waterway, as well as establishing new ones on the Royal Canal, Lough Erne and the Lower Bann. We also want to deliver two recreational activity hubs. We are going to continue to work with partners to provide water recreation programmes such as the Blueway 10K, Get Going, Get Rowing, Active Schools, Paddles Up and the open water swimming Couch to 5K to ensure more than 1,000 people learn a new water sport in 2018. We will host the 2018 world canals conference in Athlone in September. This usually attracts over 400 delegates, including international visitors and professionals. We hope to successfully deliver year two of the 22 km greenway development along the Ulster Canal from Smithborough in County Monaghan to Middletown in County Armagh. The inland waterways are not just an engineering marvel, but an amenity within our national tourism offering. I intend to ramp up investment including the restoration of the Ulster Canal.

I welcome the Deputy's comment on the national development plan and the biodiversity plan. This will help us implement the biodiversity plan in a way we were not able to do heretofore. The plan covers the period 2017 to 2021. It demonstrates our commitment to meeting our obligations to protect the diversity for the benefit of future generations through targeted strategies and actions. There are approximately 119 actions in the plan that we want to implement. It is important that we do so. There are several projects, such as that at Killarney House to which Deputy Danny Healy-Rae mentioned, as well as other implementations relating to landscapes, habitats, flora and fauna, along with telling the story of man's interaction over the years.

The built heritage investment scheme and structures at risk fund are important. There were 412 projects in 2017 and the priority is job creation. In 2018, €2 million funding will be allocated. The deadline for applications being accepted by local authorities for these schemes was 31 January. It is important in terms of assisting with the repair and conservation of structures which are protected under the Planning and Development Acts. The built heritage investment scheme leverages private capital for investment in a significant number of labour-intensive scale conservation projects. The structures at risk fund encourages the regeneration and reuse of heritage properties, as well as helping secure the preservation of protected structures which might otherwise be lost in private and public ownership. Up to €1.324 million is allocated to the fund for 2018. Private investment is usually 50-50, with four to five projects per county. The quality and scale of these projects is important. A good heritage officer in a county council helps with this too. It is important these schemes are availed of because they feed into the wider benefit of the community as a whole.