Written answers
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Office of Public Works Properties
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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54. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he wil provide in tabular form the number and percentage of the property portfolio which falls under the heading of heritage buildings; the overall budget allocation to these buildings out of the total Office of Public Works property budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4002/15]
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) is responsible for the management of a significant proportion of State owned property assets, including Heritage estate and certain prestige properties, in all parts of the country.For the purposes of this Question however, the type of properties covered in the response requires to be defined: by including the term "Heritage buildings" in his Question, it is understood therefore that the Deputy is referring particularly toto be those properties which formed the built heritage estate which was transferred to the management and care of the OPW following a decision by the then Government in March 2003.
Defined in these terms, the Heritage estate managed by the OPW falls generally into two categories, as set out below:
| Category Title | Number of properties | General Description |
|---|---|---|
| National Monuments in State care | 768 | These comprise almost 1,000 individual Monuments at 768 locations nationwide. A full list of National Monuments in State Care, by County, is available at: www.archaeology.ie/national-monuments/search-by-county Monuments are divided by those in State Ownership and those where Guardianship arrangement apply with the Owners' consent. |
| National Historic Properties | 27 | These comprise properties which are, for a variety of reasons considered noteworthy or historic.Though some of them (either wholly or partially) are National Monuments and are therefore also counted within the list of Monuments in State care, for the purposes of day to day management, they are treated separately within the OPW. A full list of National Historic Properties is available at: www.opw.ie/nhp |
From an annual Estate Portfolio Management allocation of €310m approximately, the allocation, inclusive of staffing, presentation, maintenance and upkeep for heritage properties, as defined above is €46.4m.
It is not feasible to determine the percentage of the total OPW property portfolio, which these properties represent as the nature, type and state is very varied - for example, the land area of the Phoenix Park alone might equate to the land area of much of the rest of the property portfolio combined.
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