Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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232. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will support the Heritage Council's investment in projects (details supplied) which set out its needs for 2016, and increase its capacity to support local communities through these grants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32562/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s allocation to the Heritage Council in 2016 will be subject to the normal budgetary processes and final confirmation in the Revised Estimates due to be published later this year. It will be 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 2016, having regard to competing priorities for limited resources.

The scope for funding for the conservation of the built heritage is currently constrained by the significant reduction in the public finances. Nonetheless, the competing priorities regarding the preservation and enhancement of the national heritage are kept under ongoing review, having regard to the resources available to my Department.