Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht a bheith anseo don cheist thábhachtach seo. There are heritage harbours all over the coast of Ireland. They are extremely valuable historical and heritage assets. I want to talk about the one that is local to me, which is Dún Laoghaire Harbour. It is moer than 200 years old and it celebrated its bicentenary a couple of years ago. It is a Victorian harbour of immense proportions but also of immense importance. Its heritage value does not just involve the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who left Ireland's shores for the last time on their way to Britain, or the other historic events that are linked to it such as the sinking of great ships like the RMS Leinster. Its importance goes beyond its physical aspects. It is a very beautiful and very large harbour.

The harbour was put into private ownership, albeit in the ownership of the State, through a company in 1992. That company was dissolved on 3 October 2018. Sole custody of the harbour was given to the local authority, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. I was in favour of that at the time. I was a member of the council at the time. I thought it would be much better run if it were in the hands of those who are elected locally because the reality is that the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to a large extent ran that harbour into the ground. It did not have an adequate revenue stream but the company was run like a Fortune 500 company. Once Stena Line decided it was no longer going to offer ferry services from Dún Laoghaire, which was announced in 2015, the revenue stream was cut off and the investment in what was a very valuable but precious harbour stopped. A list of infrastructure issues have arisen from that. In 2018, at the point when the Department of Transport handed it over to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, there was an estimated €33.1 million infrastructural deficit in relation to the harbour. I remember at the time issues about the structure of the East Pier. We know that subsequently in a storm - maybe five years ago - massive damage was done to the pier, which has been repaired. We also know that the historical sun shelter on the East Pier has been taken down. Only now is Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council telling me that it is going to appoint contractors to put it back up. The Carlisle Pier, from which the mail boat left and the RMS Leinster left on its last journey in 1918, is so unstable that one cannot park cars on it, yet we draw our naval ships up next to it when they visit Dún Laoghaire Harbour. I hope that very soon an announcement will be made that the Naval Service will return on a more permanent basis to Dún Laoghaire Harbour.

The issue is that these are heritage harbours. They are not really commercial going concerns. They are not going to pay the rent or wash their faces. They need investment from the State. I want the Minister of State to commit to a scheme from central government to support the existence of these enormously important heritage assets that preserves them and protects them, and makes sure the infrastructure will not deteriorate over time for the lack of investment. The way the Government approached this in 2018 was to hand it lock, stock and barrel to the local authorities. This happened all over the country. They did so with an accounting trick with Dún Laoghaire Harbour where they deemed the East Pier to be an asset because it is a physical thing, but in reality it was a liability. There was an expectation on the local authority. A small local authority like Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which is often seen as very wealthy but is in fact the smallest of the Dublin local authorities and the poorest in real terms, would never have the resources to properly maintain this harbour. Can we acknowledge that we need a funding stream to maintain them, that they are worth maintaining, and that they are important heritage assets from their history, their design and the engineering feats that they are? Can we recognise that this funding stream has to come from a scheme paid for by central government, a scheme that will realise their value not just for the local people but for the whole country and its heritage.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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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.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response.

I appreciate the suggestion that the Government is fully committed to the protection and preservation of our maritime cultural heritage. Regrettably, I do not think the evidence is there to support that statement. If we were serious about maintaining these important heritage harbours, we would put in place a scheme to do that, and not say that there is a load of grants that might be available at the right time and in the right circumstances. That will not solve the problem.

I have spoken mostly about Dún Laoghaire, but just down the coast is Bullock Harbour, north of Dalkey and south of Dún Laoghaire. It is hugely important, much older harbour, that, for some reason, was left in the ownership of Dublin Port. I am not aware that Dublin Port sent a single euro to maintain that important harbour, which is much older and dates back to medieval times. It is another very important heritage harbour, where the wall is so unstable, that, for a long time, people were not even allowed to walk on it. Further south again is what I think is the smallest operating harbour on the east coast of Ireland, Coliemore Harbour, which is opposite Dalkey Island. This harbour was there in Viking times, to allow the Vikings to transport goods to and from their trading posts on Dalkey Island. We know that a large slab of granite fell off the wall of that harbour in recent years in a place where people swim, people have small boats and where there are small fishermen and boat tours to Dalkey Island.

If we are serious about maintaining these important structures, let us put in place a scheme that shows we are serious. Let us put in place an actual heritage harbours scheme that helps places such as Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown deal with what is an estimated €800,000 annual maintenance cost just for Dún Laoghaire Harbour. That does not include Bullock Harbour and Coliemore Harbour. For all the other local authorities around the country, it does not include from Cahersiveen and Castlemaine to Drogheda, Dundalk and north Donegal. I am only aware of eight harbours that are actually owned and maintained by the State. The rest of them are left to the mercy of local authorities who might or might not find the funding to do what needs to be done to preserve them.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising his important points and for his suggestions.

Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000 sets out arrangements for the protection of our architectural heritage. While the planning authority is responsible for adding buildings and features to the record of protected structures, primary responsibility for preventing endangerment of protected structures then rests with the owner overseen by the planning authority. As I set out previously, there is a wide range of supports available to help local authorities and owners to discharge this responsibility.

There may be some parts of Dún Laoghaire Harbour that should be placed on the record of protected structures. The local council is best placed to assist with that.

Investment in our built and archaeological heritage delivers broad public benefits and as the Deputy rightly noted, enhances the character and amenity of our cities, towns, villages, and landscapes, and brings back into use buildings and other assets which currently lie vacant, closed or in a dangerous place. As Minister of State, I will endeavour to maintain and enhance this investment to the greatest extent possible and to ensure that funding is directed where those initiatives which deliver best public value. I take on board what the Deputy has said. I will go back to my officials and see how we can enhance grants that are there or focus a bit more on the heritage of the area.