Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

485. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which various at risk heritage sites and buildings continue to be protected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37729/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My role, as Minister, with regard to the protection and management of our architectural heritage, is set out in the provisions of relevant legislation, as are the role of local authorities and the responsibilities of owners as regards heritage assets.

Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides for the protection of 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. Inclusion on the Record of Protected Structures 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 54 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, a planning authority may add to or delete from its Record of Protected Structures, a structure, a specified part of a structure or a specified feature of the attendant grounds of a structure. Such a structure, specified part of a structure, or specified feature remains on the Record of Protected Structures until such time as the planning authority deletes it. Provision is made in the Act for the carrying out of works to protected structures either by way of planning permission or on the foot of a declaration received from a planning authority that certain works that would not materially affect the character of a structure are exempted development. There is a duty on owners and occupiers to protect structures from endangerment. Where structures become endangered or unauthorised development has been or is being carried out, the planning authority has the powers to take appropriate action.

There is 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.  The 2016 Structures at Risk Scheme, with an allocation of over €900,000, has funded over 50 projects. Since 2011, over 180 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 (BHIS) - for the repair and conservatio n of protected structures.  The 2016 BHIS scheme has operated via the local authorities, on the same model as the very successful Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme, which ran in 2014. In 2016, BHIS has supported over 270 pro jects across the country, creating over 17,000 days of employment in the conservation and construction industries, while helping to regenerate urban and rural areas. The scheme has also leveraged just under €5.5 million, more than double the scheme’s allocation of €2 million. Both schemes will run again in 2017.

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 www.heritagecouncil.ie

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

486. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which her Department is engaged in restoration of major historical or cultural sites throughout the country at present; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37730/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department has a number of measures at its disposal to facilitate the restoration of major historical or cultural sites. As Minister, 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 (OPW). Local authorities are responsible under the National Monuments Acts for maintaining 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 OPW do not have a direct role in their maintenance except where, as already noted, a monument is a national monument of which I, as Minister, am owner or guardian.

My Department is providing €350,000 of funding to the OPW in 2016 to assist in the conservation and presentation of historic buildings and national monuments in State ownership. 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. While my Department is responsible for legislation, policy and management of the archaeological heritage, works on the conservation and restoration of individual monuments in State care is undertaken by OPW.