Pat Deering
Question:68. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the timeline for the publication of Heritage Ireland 2030. [39363/18]
View answerTuesday, 2 October 2018
Questions (68)
Oral answers (7 contributions)
I ask about the timeline for the publication of the Heritage Ireland 2030 plan, which has been subject to some delay. The Minister might outline the reasons and how close we are to progress on that plan, which is very important for our built and cultural heritage.
Heritage Ireland 2030 is a new national heritage plan for Ireland which is being developed by my Department. It will provide a coherent national heritage policy, recognising its importance to local communities and global visitors alike. Community engagement will lie at the heart of Heritage Ireland 2030, reflecting the values, visions and concerns of our citizens, communities, farmers, tourists and businesses. It will provide the opportunity for stakeholders to engage with our heritage, building on the priorities and key investment targets set out in Investing in our Culture, Heritage and Language.
A steering group headed up by my Department has been engaged in consultation with key stakeholders throughout the year to gauge and inform thinking on the broad pillars of the Heritage Ireland 2030 plan and to help to frame the public consultation process.
It is a revitalised national heritage plan. It will provide the overarching framework for Ireland’s heritage policy, reflecting and recognising its importance to local communities and global visitors alike. Ultimately, community engagement will lie at the core of Heritage Ireland 2030, reflecting the values, visions and concerns of our citizens, communities, farmers, tourists and businesses.
Significant progress has been made in the consultations with key stakeholders, and this critical phase is now nearing completion. The steering group has facilitated inputs by many partners by extending the original closing date for submissions. The resulting engagement has identified additional needs and opportunities across the broad built and natural heritage space, building on the priorities and key investment targets previously set out in Investing in our Culture, Heritage and Language launched earlier this year. To gather the views of the wider community, a public consultation document informed by the stakeholder engagement is being drafted by the steering group.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
The development of Heritage Ireland 2030 is a unique opportunity to rethink how we care for our habitats, landscapes, wildlife, historic buildings and monuments so they can be celebrated and enjoyed long into the future. It is my intention to start the public consultation phase in November 2018 with the aim that it will conclude in spring 2019 and that finalisation of the plan will be achieved in the period following.
Our heritage is recognised as a vital contributor to national health, well-being, enjoyment and sustainable economic growth. There is also ever-increasing public awareness of the immense inherent value of Ireland's heritage and more and more stakeholder buy-in to its protection. Heritage Ireland 2030 will therefore provide an important policy framework within which we can protect, develop and share our national heritage.
I thank the Minister for her response. Funding will be a key element of any plan. As we provide more money under Project Ireland 2040, good schemes such as the built heritage investment scheme will require increased investment as we emerge from the lost decade. These are very good schemes but they have not been able to do what we would like them to do due to the lack of funding. Resources for schemes are crucial, as is investment in the key staff who deliver them. Most local authorities have one heritage officer and one conservation officer, who do great work. They are very busy and are critical in terms of the community engagement piece. They are well placed on the ground to work with community groups. In my experience of dealing with graveyard committees and other small voluntary groups, the community-led groups do much of that work, but the heritage professionals in the council tend to be that link. They are very busy and consideration will have to be given to giving them extra resources and staff to make sure they can do the great work they do in working with the community groups who do the work on the ground.
I thank the Deputy for observing the time.
I do not disagree with the Deputy on that. Resources are critical in terms of implementing our objectives for any plan, particularly an ambitious plan like Heritage 2030.
For the Deputy's information, in his constituency in Kildare, in 2017, funding of €71,680 was given towards the built heritage investment scheme, and the figure for the structure at risk fund was €53,000. In 2018, funding for the built heritage investment scheme was €50,000, and €66,000 for the structure at risk fund. Overall, we have provided funding of €3.3 million for 431 projects throughout the country in 2018. Some of those have been completed but the majority are on site. There are sites bustling with activity across every local authority in the country where we can see specialist heritage trades and crafts being put to good use in saving and restoring our historic buildings. These two schemes have funded 920 projects since the start of 2017 across every local authority in the country, 767 under the built heritage investment scheme and 153 under the structure at risk fund.
The historic towns initiative was also rolled out nationwide for the first time in 2018. Six towns have shared in €1 million in funding via the Heritage Council.
I acknowledge the role the structure at risk fund in particular has played in villages and towns such as Castledermot, Kilcullen and Kildare town in addressing significant deficits. The heritage officers work closely with the local community groups, and the scheme has been very successful, which shows the value of putting in money and investment.
On the Department engaging with heritage professionals in every county, they are key stakeholders and if they have not been consulted, they should be part of the public consultation process or a consultation process of their own. The small built heritage and cultural heritage projects are great, but it will be hard in 2030 to identify how successful the plan will have been because of all the small schemes. It is really important that consideration be given to undertaking some large-scale flagship projects. An example I can think of in County Kildare is the Curragh Plains, a 5,000 acre expanse of land that covers everything in the built heritage and the cultural heritage. It is an outwash where St. Brigid threw her cloak and, from the Race of the Black Pig to Donnelly's Hollow to the Little Curragh, there are so many stories. It is an area of which we are extremely proud in County Kildare and many Kildare people use it for recreational purposes. It is a huge tourist attraction, but it is not well managed. We need an active conservation and management plan. It is of key importance to incorporate such a flagship project in Heritage Ireland 2030.
I did not know that about St. Brigid's cloak and the Curragh Plains. I note the Deputy's comments on integrating the Curragh Plains into the overall strategy for Heritage Ireland 2030. The consultation process is a critical part of the development of the document and a key stakeholder input has been gathered in the form of written submissions and face to face meetings with organisations such as the Heritage Council, the input of which is crucial in informing the plan. I am very grateful to the organisations and bodies that have contributed so extensively. The process is almost complete. I understand there were bodies still engaged as late as last week and I am sure everyone here will agree that it is very important that they be allowed the time they need to make their contribution. The open public consultation process will begin in November and include an invitation to make written submissions, social media engagement and a series of regional public workshops which will culminate in a national discussion day, I hope in February 2019. Publication of the final plan will take place before the end of 2019 and reflect the outcome of all of the consultations.