Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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233. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount of funding, by county, provided to local authorities in 2015, for the Structures at Risk Programme; the amount allocated to the Heritage Council to provide to local authorities for the preservation of protected structures in 2015; the amount of money provided, under the Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme 2015; if she will provide details of other funding to be provided to local authorities for privately owned protected structures in 2015; broken down by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7577/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On 9 February last, I announced an allocation of €624,000 for the Structures at Risk Fund 2015,to enable conservation works to heritage structures, in both private and public ownership, which are protected under the Planning and Development Acts 2000, as amended, and are deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration. This Fund, which will be administered through the local authorities, encourages the regeneration and reuse of heritage properties and helps to secure the preservation of protected structures, which might otherwise be lost. The Fund is open to two applications per local authority, of which only one application may be in respect of a publicly-owned building. The amount of funding available per project will be subject to a minimum level of €15,000 and a maximum level of €60,000. Final details of projects funded will be made available once all applications are received by the local authorities and assessed by my Department. Since 2011, over 100 structures have been safeguarded for the future as a result of the Structures at Risk Fund.

The remainder of my Department's built heritage capital budget for 2015 will be focused on the conservation and presentation of the State's heritage portfolio, which is managed by the Office of Public Works.

In the published Revised Estimates for Public Services 2015, funding of €4.743m was allocated to the Heritage Council to supports its functions under the Heritage Act 1995, in its role of supporting heritage infrastructure, promoting pride and best practice in conservation and sustainable heritage management. It is primarily a matter for the Heritage Council to decide how its funding should be allocated across the range of research, education and conservation programmes it supports in 2015 and future years, having regard to competing priorities for limited resources.

In 2014 my Department was provided with a special allocation of €5m from Capital Stimulus funding for a new Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme to assist with works to safeguard structures, in private and civic ownership, protected under the Planning and Development Acts 2000, as amended. A total of €15m was invested in 540 historic structures across the country and information provided by the local authorities indicates that 175 jobs were created as a result of this scheme. The operation of a similar scheme in the future would be contingent on dedicated funding being made available to my Department.