175 Jobs Created In Historic Buildings

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD, has announced the end of year results for the Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme 2014.

The scheme generated 175 jobs, and a total of €15m was invested in 540 projects across the country.

By making it a condition of the scheme that taxpayer funds were at least matched by private funding, the €5m supplied by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht unlocked at least €10m in private funding for these projects. The scheme was administered by local authorities.

Minister Humphreys said: "Ireland's heritage buildings and protected structures are a vital part of our villages, towns, cities and also the rural landscape. This scheme has been a cornerstone of investment in built heritage at local level around the country and has played a key part in the wider re-investment in core areas of our towns and cities.

"The linkage between conservation works, employment, and the leveraging of private sector investment has been enthusiastically adopted nationally. The allocation of this funding in 2014 has also re-ignited private sector investment in heritage buildings, both urban and rural.

"This innovative approach aligned heritage assets with economic growth and shows how historic buildings are not only an intrinsic part of Ireland's heritage, but can also provide a real boost to job creation in the construction, conservation and tourism sectors. The heritage sector has long argued that heritage conservation supports employment in SMEs, and the results of this scheme demonstrate that this is the case."

(CD/JP)