Written answers

Tuesday, 3 November 2015

Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

Heritage Fund

Photo of Joe CareyJoe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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1201. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the grant assistance towards renovation and restoration available from her Department to owners of houses and homes that are listed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37382/15]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy can appreciate, the scope for funding for the conservation of the built heritage is currently constrained by the significant reduction in the public finances. Funding for the protection of built heritage is being provided by my Department in 2015 via a number of schemes, which are either directly administered or delivered through local authorities or through the Heritage Council. Application for funding under these schemes is currently closed as all funding for 2015 has been allocated. It is expected that schemes for 2016, which are currently being worked on, will be advertised before the end of the year or early in the new year.

I recently announced a new €2 million investment scheme for the repair and conservation of protected structures. This fund will operate on the same model as the very successful Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme (BHJLS), which ran in 2014, and is expected to support a significant number of projects across the country and create employment in the conservation and construction industries, while helping to regenerate urban and rural areas. This announcement will come as a welcome boost to the custodians of heritage properties.

In 2015, under the Structures at Risk Fund, an allocation of €624,000 was available,to enable conservation works to heritage structures, in both private and public ownership, protected under the Planning and Development Acts 2000, as amended, which are deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration. This fund which is 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 was open to two applications per local authority of which one application may be in respect of a privately-owned building. The amount of funding available per project was subject to a minimum level of €15,000 and a maximum level of €60,000. Since 2011, in excess of 130 structures have been safeguarded for the future as a result of the Structures at Risk Fund.

The Heritage Council, which my Department also funds, provides grants for the protection and preservation of the built heritage. The announcement of any proposed grant schemes can be monitored on . 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 annually having regard to competing priorities for limited resources.

I am sure the Deputy can appreciate that 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 on-going review having regard to the resources available to my Department.

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