Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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231. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of visitors at each visitor attraction operated by the OPW for the first five months of 2024; and if he will provide the figures for the same period in 2023, in tabular form. [29391/24]

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) is responsible for caring, maintaining and operating the country’s most important heritage sites. The mission of OPW Heritage Services is to conserve and protect the nation’s built heritage in our care whilst providing public access, interpretation and encouraging the public to visit and engage with our Nation's heritage. The OPW strive to manage heritage sites in a manner that balances our remit to protect heritage assets with increased, more interactive, empowering and inclusive access for visitors.

The volume of visitors at OPW-run heritage sites for January to May inclusive and for 2023 and 2024 is set out below, for the sites where data is currently available. It is noted that OPW operates an annual audit of visitor data which takes place in Q1 each year, and the 2024 visitor data is preliminary in that context.