Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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23. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will consider increasing the amount available to local authorities for the protection of listed structures, and those structures under threat; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23546/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Funding for the protection of built heritage will continue to be provided by my Department in 2015 via a number of schemes. This includes making €624,000 available this year under the Structures at Risk Fund to support properties protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration. 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.

The Heritage Council, which my Department funds, also provides grants for the protection and preservation of the built heritage. For 2015, the Council is administering a community-based heritage grants scheme with funding of €600,000 available for projects that contribute to particular heritage themes.

In 2014 my Department was provided with a special allocation of €5m from Capital Stimulus funding for a new Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme (BHJLS) to assist with works to safeguard structures, in private and civic ownership, protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. The BHJLS has successfully encouraged the investment of private capital in a number of small-scale, labour-intensive projects to repair and conserve historic structures, and has supported employment in this niche sector of the construction industry throughout 2014. The scheme also facilitated the up-skilling of construction workers in traditional, conservation-related building skills.

540 historic structures, mainly privately owned, across the country benefited from conservation works under the BHJLS in 2014, and statistics gathered by the local authorities show that 175 full-time equivalent jobs were generated by the scheme. The operation of a similar scheme in the future would be contingent on dedicated funding being made available to my Department.

The scope for financial support for the conservation of the built heritage is currently constrained by the significant reduction in the public finances. Nonetheless, I keep the competing priorities regarding the preservation and enhancement of the national heritage under on-going review, having regard to the resources available to my Department.