Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 566: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the funding provided by him for the upkeep and development of Glendalough, County Wicklow and it environs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40295/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Glendalough monastic site is under the responsibility of the Office of Public Works but is set in Wicklow Mountains National Park, which is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department. NPWS provides a number of facilities in Glendalough, including a Visitor Information Point near the Upper Lake and picnic facilities.

Glendalough also enjoys the services of eight NPWS guides and is supported by four general operatives who also work in the general National Park area.

In recent years a number of works have been undertaken to improve visitor facilities in the area. A boardwalk around the lower lake at Glendalough has been completed, offering those with physical disabilities, in particular, easy access between the monastic site and the Upper Lake. The boardwalk, which cost some €112,000, formed part of a programme to provide nine way-marked routes around the National Park.

A Sensory Garden has also been developed at a cost of some €7,000, with the valued advice of the Irish Wheelchair Association, among others, at the information point near the Upper Lake. This Garden provides a stimulating and relaxing environment for those with a visual impairment in particular.

The NPWS Education Centre at Bolger's Cottage, beside the Upper Lake, has been restored recently at a cost of some €105,000 and has allowed a significant expansion of the education programme there.