Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. It is important to say that broader investment in harbour maintenance and refurbishment is typically funded directly by the responsible local authorities and port companies and through the fishery harbour and coastal infrastructure development programme managed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

As outlined in the programme for Government, the Government is fully committed to the protection and preservation of our maritime cultural heritage, as the Deputy has outlined. Work is under way within the National Monuments Service on a draft national strategy to protect Ireland's underwater cultural heritage, which is understood to include historic harbours, ports and jetties. It is anticipated that this will be ready for public consultation later this year. Ratification by Ireland of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage is also under consideration.

This is a key international instrument, which provides an agreed shared framework for co-operation among state parties with regard to maritime cultural heritage. I am aware of calls to restore historic harbour structures such as the sun shelter on the East Pier of Dún Laoghaire Harbour. I note that the primary responsibility in this case rests with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council as both the owner of the structure and the responsible planning authority. However, my Department funds a range of relevant grant schemes intended to support local authorities and other owners in these circumstances. Where the structures concerned are protected or are within a designated architectural conservation area, the built heritage investment scheme, BHIS, and the historic structures fund, HSF, can provide support for repair and conservation works. The BHIS provides grants of between €2,500 and €50,000, while the HSF provides funding of between €50,000 and €200,000 for works at a larger scale. These schemes are now closed for 2025. The application window for the 2026 BHIS is expected to open in July 2025, with the HSF to follow in December 2025.

Where the structure in question is an archaeological monument, the community monuments fund, CMF, can provide grants of up to €100,000 for conservation works. The CMF is now closed for 2025. The application window for the 2026 CMF is expected to open in November this year. Over the last three years, these conservation schemes have allocated more than €50 million for works to historic buildings, public realm, and monuments. Projects awarded funding under the schemes include conservation of the metal man beacon in Rosses Point, County Sligo and the Knight’s Pier in Belmullet, County Mayo.

In addition to the conservation schemes described above and the fishery harbour and coastal infrastructure development programme, local authorities seeking funding should, depending on the exact circumstances of the structures and buildings in question, engage with the urban regeneration and development fund, the rural regeneration and development fund, the LEADER programme, the THRIVE programme, and Údarás na Gaeltachta funding schemes.

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