Written answers

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme

Photo of Joe CareyJoe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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56. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the supports she provides for the restoration and conservation of built heritage, including the recently announced Built Heritage Investment Scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43477/15]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Funding for the protection of built heritage will continue to be provided by my Department via a number of schemes, which will be either directly administered or delivered through local authorities and agencies such as the Heritage Council.This year my Department operated a Structures at Risk Fund 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 has an allocation of €624,000 in 2015, is administered through the local authorities and encourages the regeneration and reuse of heritage properties and helps to secure the preservation of protected structures which might otherwise be lost. This fund, which is now closed, was open to two applications per local authority.

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

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

The recently announced new €2 million investment scheme for the repair and conservation of protected structures – the Built Heritage Investment Scheme – will operate, via the Local Authorities, 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.

It seeks to encourage the investment of private capital in a number of small-scale, labour intensive projects to repair and conserve historic structures and to support the employment of skilled and experienced conservation professionals, craft workers and tradespeople. Protected structures, proposed protected structures and structures that contribute to the character of an Architectural Conservation Area will be eligible for assistance.

The minimum level of funding awarded will be €2,500 with up to a maximum of €10,000 generally applicable, while up to a maximum of €15,000 will be available to the 6 city local authorities. The State’s contribution to each project must be matched by a similar contribution from the private sector per application. The scheme will operate through 2016 and will be administered by the local authorities, all of which have been informed of their allocations and the process and timelines involved.

With respect to 2016, my Department is currently finalising its consideration of the funding available for the protection and conservation of the built heritage next year in the context of its overall allocations. I will publish details of the funding schemes for 2016 as soon as these are finalised.

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