Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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846. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is aware of the fact that State funds have been made available to numerous private businesses under the built heritage investment scheme 2025; if he will provide justification for providing funds to seemingly profitable businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11143/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Investment in our built heritage delivers broad public benefits. It enhances the character and amenity of our villages, towns, cities, and landscapes, and sustains centuries-old craft skills which would otherwise be lost. Where re-use of a historic building avoids the need for new construction (and its associated greenhouse gas emissions), investment in built heritage can also contribute to our efforts to tackle climate change.

Many of our historic buildings are in private ownership. In the absence of public subsidy, private owners may base their investment decisions only on a reckoning of the private costs and benefits arising. Where public benefits are not taken into account, the result will be a consistent bias toward under-investment in (or even demolition of) our historic buildings, regardless of owners’ means.

In part to address this problem, the Oireachtas votes funding each year for a variety of programmes to encourage and support investment in built heritage. Included in these is the Built Heritage Investment Scheme. This scheme, which is administered by the Local Authorities with funding from my Department, awards grants based on an assessment of the significance of the building in question, the quality and efficacy of the works proposed, and the contribution which the works would make to public amenity. It should be noted that the scheme requires substantial funding contributions from grantees. In February of this year, €8.1m of funding was awarded under the scheme, which will be matched by an estimated €29.5m contribution from grantees.