The Heritage Council has announced €3.2 million for 377 projects which include the restoration of ancient woodlands and corncrake habitats and the reintroduction of traditional Irish farming breeds.
Work on the diverse projects is to be carried out by community groups, individuals and educational institutions. The €8,000 restoration and repair of the John Redmond mausoleum is among the projects for which Wexford Borough Council sought a grant.
Funding of €10,000 is to go to Clare Lough Derg Angling Association and Lough Derg Sub-Aqua Club for research into the habitat of the Irish pollan, a unique fish which appears only in five lakes in the western part of Ireland. In three of these, including Lough Derg, the population is in decline.
Another wildlife project involves a plan by Glenfarne Gun Club in Co Leitrim to help restore and protect red grouse stocks in the area.
The destinations of some awards point to the changing face of Ireland: a €2,000 grant is to go to Museum Chorca Dhuibhne in Kerry to fund the translation of the texts of its exhibitions into Polish. The translated texts will also be placed on the museum's website in an attempt to open up the facility to the many Polish people who are now living in the area. A €3,000 grant has been awarded to Jason Bolton to study the potential impacts of climate change on the decay and soiling of Irish building stone.
An exploration of Co Cork's breweries from the 1950s to the 1980s is also to be funded with a grant of €2,400. This will finance the compilation of digital recordings and photographs of the working lives of people in what is a gradually vanishing industrial heritage.
Full details of all grants are available on the council's website:
www.heritagecouncil.ie