Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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674. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the available grant funding for repair and restoration of church buildings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14767/21]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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My Department provides financial support for the protection of heritage buildings and historic structures through two grant schemes which are, in the main, administered by the local authorities. These are the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) and the Historic Structures Fund (HSF), both of which accept applications for repair and restoration of church buildings.

Last year some 450 heritage projects across every county in the country were allocated funding from a combined sum of over €4.3m under these schemes and an extra €1m in funding was secured for built heritage projects under the July Jobs Stimulus Package 2020, which aimed to offset some of the effects of Covid-19.

The BHIS and HSF for 2021 were launched in November 2020, with a combined allocation of €6m, an increase of nearly 40%. The deadline for receipt of applications has closed and I will shortly be announcing details of projects to be funded, as public health restrictions allow, under both schemes.

Details of the successful projects will be published on my Department’s website and on local authority websites. While applications for the current year have closed, funding of further projects may be considered in the event of additional finance being secured.

In the context of a particular building or historic structure, the best advice is generally to contact the Heritage Officer or Architectural Conservation Officer in the local authority who is well placed to advise on the various types of funding available to assist with renovation.