Heritage contributes €1.5bn to economy, supports 35,000 jobs

Ireland’s heritage is contributing an estimated €1.5 billion to the national economy and supporting more than 35,000 jobs, a report has found.

The report was compiled by the Heritage Council, whose chief executive, Michael Starrett, said all the evidence demonstrated that investment in heritage was inherently sustainable in the long-term and provided a successful solution to the economic recession.

“Many European countries, such as Norway, Slovakia, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, include heritage investments as part of their economic stimulus packages because heritage conservation is recognised as a way of creating jobs which are highly skilled, long term, well paid and, crucially, of benefit to local economies,” he said.

The report, launched in Dublin yesterday by Irish Times environment editor Frank McDonald, focused on world heritage sites, recorded monuments, protected structures, architectural conservation areas, designed landscapes surveyed by the inventory of architectural heritage, and other structures erected before 1919. It found that they supported the equivalent of 2 per cent of total employment in Ireland and the spending of €700 million in gross value added by visitors.