Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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85. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if there will be a further round of the built heritage investment scheme and structures at risk fund in 2018 in order to support the repair and conservation of historical buildings in County Kildare and nationwide; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47863/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Financial support is provided by my Department through a number of structured schemes for the repair, conservation, preservation or safeguarding of protected structures, sites or monuments. These schemes are administered through the local authorities.

The Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) was developed to assist with the repair and conservation of structures that are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000(as amended). In 2017 I approved funding of €3.5 million for approximately five hundred projects in every local authority area across the country.

The Structures at Risk Fund (SRF) seeks to encourage the regeneration and reuse of heritage properties and to help to secure the preservation of protected structures, in both private and public ownership, which might otherwise be lost. In 2017 I approved funding of €1.324 million for 67 projects countrywide.

While the funding for these schemes in 2018 is still to be confirmed pending the final budgetary estimates process, given their success to date, I intend that both schemes will operate again in 2018 as administered via the local authorities. Details of the schemes and application dates for 2018 will be published on my Department’s website and all local authority websites in the coming weeks.

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 are advertised by the Heritage Council on its website .

Aggregate funding of €159k was approved for 14 projects in Kildare under BHIS and SRF 2017.