Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

77. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the funding available from her Department to local heritage groups to support the conservation of protected structures and buildings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40714/17]

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 built heritage, is set out in the provisions of relevant legislation, as are the roles of local authorities and the responsibilities of owners as regards heritage assets.

Financial support is delivered by my Department for the protection of heritage buildings under structured schemes which are administered via the local authorities.

The Built Heritage Investment Scheme is a scheme for the repair and conservation of protected structures (i.e. structures on the local authority Record of Protected Structures). This year the allocation is €3.5 million and the scheme is supporting in the region of 500 projects across the country, creating employment in the conservation and construction industries, while helping to regenerate urban and rural areas.

The Structures at Risk Fund enables conservation works to heritage structures, in both private and public ownership, which are protected under the Planning and Development Acts and are deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration. This fund has an allocation of €1.324 million in 2017 and is supporting 67 projects nationally. It 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 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. Grant schemes for 2017 are advertised by the Heritage Council on its website .

My Department is also providing €350,000 of funding to the OPW in 2017 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 throughout the country.