Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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155. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of historical, heritage and protected sites and buildings she deems to be at risk, for whatever reason; the action she proposes to address this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14006/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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While my Department often receives information relating to existing or potential risks to heritage sites or buildings, deemed to be at risk, from local authorities, the Heritage Council, heritage-based NGOs and members of the public, a single set of comprehensive statistics is not available in respect of the number and location of heritage sites or buildings deemed to be at risk throughout the country.

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.

Under Section 53 of the Planning and Development Acts 2000, as amended, I may make recommendations to a planning authority concerning the inclusion in its RPS of structures which I consider would merit inclusion and the attendant planning restrictions which would apply to protect the structures’ special architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social or technical interest. This process is administered by my Department’s National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) programme.

There are a number of ways in which my Department acts in respect of possible heritage sites/buildings deemed to be at risk. One of these is the receipt of applications for funding for the repair, conservation, preservation or safeguarding of protected structures, sites or monuments. Financial support is being provided by my Department through a number of structured schemes for the conservation and protection of heritage buildings. My Department itself operates a Structures at Risk Fund to enable conservation works to heritage structures, in both private and public ownership, that are protected under the Planning and Development Acts and are deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration. This fund is administered through the local authorities and seeks to encourage the regeneration and reuse of heritage properties and to help to secure the preservation of protected structures which might otherwise be lost. Applications for this scheme have now closed for 2016, and recommended projects are currently being finalised. Since 2011, over 130 structures have been safeguarded for the future as a result of the Structures at Risk Fund.

In 2015 I launched a new €2 million scheme - the Built Heritage Investment Scheme - for the repair and conservation of protected structures. This scheme will operate in 2016, via the local authorities, on the same model as the very successful Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme, which ran in 2014. It is expected to support a significant number of projects across the country and to create employment in the conservation and construction industries, while helping to regenerate urban and rural areas. The scheme for this year is now fully allocated.

The Heritage Council, which my Department funds, also provides grants for the protection and preservation of the built heritage. For 2016, the Council is administering a community based heritage grants scheme available for projects that contributed to particular heritage themes. Further details can be found at

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 2016 to assist in the conservation and presentation of historic buildings and national monuments in State ownership. OPW undertakes the care and maintenance of national monuments in my ownership or guardianship (of which there are approximately 750). My Department’s National Monuments Service works in close collaboration with the OPW on survey, excavation and research work to optimise the protection, management, interpretation and presentation of national monuments in State care.