Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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400. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will outline the results of a recent thatched building survey undertaken by his Department; and if he will confirm if a substantial grant stream will be forthcoming on the back of this survey. [55052/22]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I am very aware of the concern expressed by owners of thatched properties in relation to their difficulties with insurance. Under Action 6 of the strategy for built vernacular heritage, A Living Tradition, launched in December 2021, my Department undertakes to “investigate and work to resolve the urgent issue of affordability of insurance for thatched buildings” and other relevant issues relating to thatch and thatched buildings.

Since then, a steering group, expressly tasked with advising on this particular action, has been set up. This group is chaired by a thatcher, who is also a thatch-owner, and includes a second thatch owner, a thatching inspector with the Department, and a local authority architectural conservation officer and a heritage officer, a representative of the Heritage Council, and a representative of the Department for Communities (NI).

The Department’s built heritage unit is working urgently to progress the resolution of the thatch insurance issue and, to this end, has engaged a specialist to carry out an urgent assessment of the insurance sector as it applies to thatched properties. This assessment will involve engagement with thatch-owners, insurance brokers, insurance companies, the fiscal authorities (including the FSPO, Central Bank, Department of Finance), local authorities and any other relevant bodies.

An interim report was received at the end of September with the final report due at the end of November. My Department has begun to examine the approaches suggested by the interim findings and will be prepared to act quickly on the findings of the final report in November.

The thatch insurance survey, which will form part of the final thatch insurance report, is currently ongoing as the deadline was extended at the request of Architectural Conservation Officers and Heritage Officers in local authorities who wished to ensure that as many owners as possible had received, completed, and returned the survey. 

On the basis of the recommendations set out in the report, and any avenues for progress that suggest themselves in the meantime, the Department will work urgently to seek workable solutions to the thatch insurance issue.

In the meantime, my Department offers other financial assistance to owners of thatch structures through a number of grant schemes. For the renewal or repair of thatched roofs, there is a grant of up to €3,810 available, where a house is used as a normal place of residence; in the case of medical card holders, the grant can be up to €6,350; and on certain offshore islands the grant can rise to €8,252.

Other streams of grant assistance to thatch owners include the Historic Structures Fund, a stream of which is directed towards vernacular buildings that are not on a local authority record of protected structures, and the Built Heritage Investment Scheme. I have secured increased funding for these schemes in 2022 and it is intended to run them again in 2023; details of next year's schemes will be made available this month.