Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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59. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans for the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre, County Meath. [10626/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Brú na Bóinne complex is one of Ireland's major visitor attractions and one of two UNESCO World Heritage sites in the State. The investment at Brú na Bóinne, supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Fáilte Ireland Capital Grants Programme, includes improvements in three separate areas: at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, at Knowth Monument and at the core Newgrange Monument itself.

The Visitor Centre acts as the admission point to Newgrange and Knowth and as a management hub for a range of nearby monuments, providing information and interpretation of these important sites. The Centre was built and the existing exhibition installed in the mid 1990's so it is timely at this stage, over 20 years after its inception, to review the exhibition and modernise it so that it provides added value to visitors and provides them with a more interactive, dynamic and engaging experience. In tandem, the fabric of the building, which is considerably dated at this point, is being substantially refurbished and updated.

The new facilities at Knowth celebrate the megalithic art at the site and will be open to visitors during the coming season. The state of the art exhibition currently being developed at the Knowth Farm buildings will explore how the art was produced as well as its significance and will for the first time allow visitors to experience in virtual reality the interior of one of the great tombs at Knowth. Traditionally, Knowth has only been open to the public from the end of March to the beginning of November for conservation reasons. The development at Knowth means that the site will be open to the public for much longer, leading ultimately to a year-round visitor offering at the site.

The project at Newgrange Monument will focus on bringing the former Tourist Office at the site back into use together with changes to traffic management and landscaping. This work is currently subject to a Planning Application to Meath Co. Council. Improved interpretation at Newgrange itself will allow us to change the way in which we present the site to the public and aid the better management of visitor volumes. Following completion of this project more visitors will be offered the chance to enjoy the site and the exterior of the tomb with entry to the tomb being treated as a ‘premium’ experience. The net effect will be to sustainably increase the overall number of visitors who experience the Newgrange site.

I am satisfied that once all of these proposed projects have been completed, we will not only deliver a state-of-the-art entry point to the World Heritage site via Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre but will also facilitate a sustainable increase in visitor numbers to the entire archaeological zone encompassed by the World Heritage Site.