Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy. It covers two thirds of the cost of hiring the conservation professional, but that advice could be critical in saving a building and ensuring that the right approach is taken. Certainly, over the longer term, it will ultimately save the owner money. There is a huge amount of traditional conservation expertise out there. We have a lack of conservation officers in our local authorities. Their recognition within the local government system needs to be looked at and that is something I am looking at with the Heritage Council in terms of rolling out architectural conservation officers, ACOs, to every local authority in the country. We need to have full heritage services in our local authorities.

This is a hugely important piece of work. If we look at the number of 19th century buildings and early 20th century buildings across our housing stock right across the country, there is huge potential for these buildings to be restored and brought back into productive use, but the advice needs to be correct. We also have a technical guidance document to support the restoration. I see both of these things as hugely important in trying to bring these buildings back into productive use.

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