Seán Ryan
Ceist:9 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the work to be carried out in St. Aidan's Cathedral for which £0.5m was provided in the budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30007/00]
Other Questions. - Architectural Heritage.
Pat Rabbitte
Ceist:38 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the work to be carried out in the restoration of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin 2, for which £0.25m was provided in the budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30005/00]
Seán Ryan
Ceist:39 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the work to be carried out in All Hallows College, Dublin 9, for which £0.5m was provided in the budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30006/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 38 and 39 together.
The Government decided to support the restoration projects at Christ Church Cathedral, St. Aidan's Cathedral and All Hallow's College in the context of the millennium celebrations.
St. Aidan's Cathedral, Enniscorthy, was designed by Pugin and restoration work has been ongoing for some time. The present phase of the restoration involves the restoration of the cathedral's organ and the stained glass windows. The amount allocated in the budget for St. Aidan's Cathedral is £40,000, not £0.5 million as referred to by the Deputy.
Christ Church Cathedral is one of the most significant buildings of architectural heritage in the country. The restoration work on the cathedral will include electrical rewiring, and repair of the stonework. The amount allocated for the restoration work on Christ Church Cathedral in the budget is £250,000.
The restoration work on All Hallow's College comprises in the main work on the library and the archives. The amount allocated in the budget to All Hallow's College is £50,000, not £0.5 million as referred to by the Deputy. I intend to ask the Heritage Council to administer these funds on behalf of my Department. As the Deputies are aware, the Government has also announced support of £0.2 million in the budget for the Irish College in Rome, to be administered by the Office of Public Works.
I thank the Minister for outlining the amounts which appeared on budget day. Obviously they are welcome. Will the Minister indicate how these projects were selected as against other projects? I am not here to promote any project and have none in mind.
This assistance is provided on a once-off basis for each of these projects. The Government decided to mark the contribution of Christian churches in Ireland during the millennium celebrations. It was considered appropriate to do this by assisting the restoration of the buildings concerned. These buildings are important elements of our architectural heritage and are deserving of protection in their own right. Each has a special significance and that has been recognised by providing assistance on a once-off basis to deal with the structural repairs outlined.
Obviously the allocations are welcome. However, the reason these projects were selected rather than others is not clear. Is there any proposal to extend this provision in the future? In the context of these important historical churches they should be kept in the best possible state of repair. Whether it is the library in All Hallow's College or the organ in St. Aidan's Cathedral, these should be refurbished and kept in good condition. It is not a good idea to just make a millennium gesture. I ask for a commit ment that this type of funding will be provided in future years.
I am sure the Deputy would consider it appropriate to honour some of the outstanding examples of our architectural heritage, the Christian churches, during the millennium celebrations. That was the main reason for assisting these projects at this time. The question of assistance to churches came up in a number of debates here. It is one of the issues that will be discussed at length with regard to the review of the monuments Acts. It is an issue that could be widened. I look forward to the debate when there will be an opportunity to discuss those issues. These are once-off payments. While we would wish to provide funding on an on-going basis, we have to ensure such funding is not in breach of the Constitution.
The Minister's one minute time limit is up.
Perhaps I could clarify this for the Deputy. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that for State funding to constitute endowment of a religion it must have three characteristics, one of which is that it must be permanent. That is the reason this is a once-off payment on this occasion to these particular churches.
While I support the whole thrust of what the Minister has said, and the review of the monuments Acts and so on is welcome, certain churches that become redundant can quickly fall into a poor state of repair and can be seriously damaged. Will the Minister look at a proposal to put a contingency fund in place so that her Department would be in a position to assist repair work to retain the integrity of the particular building and its artifacts?
I share the views expressed. Given that there are so many places of worship that are of particular interest not only from an historical point of view but from an architectural point of view, the question of deciding on what projects should be addressed is one we face in the Department. We are lucky to have such a wealth of buildings that should be looked after and preserved and conserved. Some of these buildings are held in private ownership and some have been taken over by the State.
I am not sure if a contingency fund would be the right approach. That would make it look as if, rather than prioritising buildings of a historic nature in the Department, money for them would have to be shared out of a small contingency fund. That should not be the approach. We need a much broader based approach.
Perhaps we can further this debate when we have an opportunity to discuss what we propose to do in regard to the review of the monuments Acts. I hope to have a discussion paper early next year on the issues that will arise in the review of those Acts.