Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be helpful I will cite an example in my own county. The abbey in Rathmullan is under the ownership of the Church of Ireland but there is an ongoing discourse between the heritage officer at Donegal County Council and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and the Office of Public Works is involved. At the outset it may be idea to get Sligo County Council to organise a meeting between the Office of Public Works and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. I will do what I can to help facilitate that meeting if the Senator wishes to pursue it.

While the Minister does not have the wherewithal to intervene directly in this instance there may be opportunities for the local authority to source funding to have remedial repairs carried out to the structures and make the sites safe for visitors. Financial support is provided by the Department through a number of structured schemes for the conservation and protection of heritage buildings. There is the structures at risk fund to enable conservation works to heritage structures in both private and public ownership that are protected under the Planning and Development Acts and are deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration. The Minister launched a new €2 million scheme, the built heritage investment scheme, for the repair and conservation of protected structures on 21 October 2015. This scheme will operate in 2016 via the local authorities on the same model as the very successful built heritage jobs leverage scheme which ran in 2014. It is expected to support a significant number of projects across the country and to create employment in the conservation and construction industries while helping to regenerate urban and rural areas.

The Heritage Council which the Department funds also provides grants for the protection and preservation of the built heritage. For 2015 the council administered a community-based heritage grants scheme, worth funding of more than €500,000, available for projects that contributed to particular heritage themes. The council would be able to advise if this particular structure would be eligible for funding now or in the future. I hope this information is of benefit. I am aware from my dealings with different local authorities that the heritage officers play a proactive role and do good work. The biggest challenge is in terms of resources. As it is a health and safety issue, surely there could be a mechanism to attract funding to ensure the buildings are safe in the first instance in order that tourists can visit but more important that people who have loved ones in these graveyards can visit them and are not precluded from doing so.