Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 90: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 1533 of 27 September 2006, his plans to review the funding for architectural protection grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36439/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Following a review of my Department's Built Heritage Capital Programme for 2006, I announced on 29 September that I had re-allocated identified savings within that programme to add to the provision of certain individual projects as follows:

Heritage Council €1,650,000

Waterford City Walls €260,000;

Local Authority Conservation Grants Schemes €1,067,000.

The additional €1,650,000 for The Heritage Council is being be directed towards the conservation of valuable heritage properties throughout the country with particular emphasis on smaller projects.

In the case of Waterford City Walls, I provided an additional €260,000 to Waterford City Council to assist them meet their financial commitments with regard to restoring the medieval city walls. This brings my Department's cumulative contribution to this project to €2 million.

I responded favourably to requests for additional funding from many Local Authorities for their Conservation Grants Schemes by allocating a further €1,067,000 to enable them to grant-aid the conservation of structures of architectural significance in the Record of Protected Structures (RPS) which the Local Authority lists under the Planning and Development Act 2000. The distribution of this funding is as follows:

Funding for the Built Heritage Capital Programme for 2007 and subsequent years is under consideration as part of the Estimates and NDP process respectively.