Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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176. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which various at-risk heritage sites and buildings continue to be protected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10727/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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177. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she has received communication indicating heritage sites or buildings deemed to be at risk, for whatever reason; the number of sites and locations made known to her; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10728/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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178. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which her Department is engaged in restoration of major historical and cultural sites throughout the country at present; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10729/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 176 to 178, inclusive, together.

Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides for the protection of the architectural heritage. The Act gives primary responsibility to planning authorities to identify and protect the architectural heritage by including relevant structures on the Record of Protected Structures (RPS). Inclusion on the RPS places a duty of care on the owners and occupiers of protected structures and also gives planning authorities powers to deal with development proposals affecting them and to seek to safeguard their future.

I recently 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, deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration and which are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. T his 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. Since 2011, over 100 structures have been safeguarded for the future as a result of the Structures at Risk Fund.

My Department has a number of measures at its disposal to facilitate the restoration of major historical or cultural sites. I am the owner or guardian under the National Monuments Acts of approximately 1,000 national monuments located at approximately 750 sites and in such cases there is a statutory duty to maintain the national monument. Such maintenance is undertaken by the Office of Public Works. Local authorities are responsible under the National Monuments Acts for maintaining the national monuments of which they are owners or guardians. A wide range of other monuments (in the order of 130,000) are currently subject to protection under other provisions of the National Monuments Acts but my Department and the Office of Public Works do not have a direct role in their maintenance except where, as already noted, a monument is a national monument of which I am owner or guardian.

My Department is also providing €350,000 of funding to the Office of Public Works (OPW) in 2015 to assist in the conservationand presentation of historic buildings and national monuments in State ownership.

Finally, in 2014 my Department was provided with a special allocation of €5 million 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 Act 2000, as amended.