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

I thank the Deputy. The local authorities are closely involved with the Department's work and receive funding for heritage and cultural projects which can be applied for under various schemes. We will be funding up to 500 projects under the built heritage investment scheme, which is currently open for applications through the local authorities. We are also funding heritage-led regeneration projects, which will benefit six other towns under the historic towns initiative. This will be done in collaboration with the Heritage Council. That is also currently open for applications.

Next year we will publish the new national heritage plan. We will hold a heritage forum in Dublin Castle in May 2020. We will run a public consultation process for a new national policy on architecture in early 2020 and progress the drafting of this policy by the year's end. We will also progress objectives on the climate change adaptation sectoral plan for built and archaeological heritage. It is of supreme importance that we protect what is already in situ and under our control for future generations. We will obviously support the OPW in conservation projects around our national monuments and historic properties. We will also publish two more surveys as part of the national inventory of architectural heritage, Dublin phase 15 and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown phase 4.

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