RECOMMENDATIONS to protect the national architectural heritage, at a cost of £10 million a year, have been made by a Government inter-departmental working group.
Its report says its proposal for an architecture inventory had to be viewed in the context of conserving an essential part of Ireland's culture and the economic implications of its effects on tourism and jobs.
The group of officials of the Departments of the Environment Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, and the Office of Public Works received submissions from a wide range of voluntary and official bodies.
In its report to the Minister for Arts, Cultured and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, the group says the effectiveness of measures to conserve buildings of historical and architectural interest was constrained by legislation and financial measures. Deficiencies in these had been highlighted by the public and voluntary societies for many years.
The recommendations are:
. A central authority to be nominated by the Minister to carry out a national inventory of architecture and recommend buildings which should be listed for preservation.
. The central authority should publish national criteria and guidelines for listing.
. Planning authorities should be obliged to inform the central authority in writing if they do not accept its recommendation for listing a building.
. Legislation should be amended to oblige owners to maintain listed buildings. In the event of neglect, planning authorities should be empowered to require the owner to secure and weather proof the building, or to undertake the work and oblige the owner to reimburse them.
. Planning authorities should be empowered to make compulsory purchase orders for listed buildings, other than dwelling houses or churches in regular use.
. There should be legislative changes to ensure that conservation considerations are taken into account when a statutory authority invokes a dangerous building notice for a building listed for preservation.
. Financial incentives to preserve architectural heritage should be achieved through fiscal measures, using personal and corporate tax relief, and direct grant aid.
. All incentives should be subject to control and monitoring and a guide published outlining State aid available for the conservation of listed buildings.
. A tax relief, similar to that for refurbishing buildings in Urban Renewal Scheme areas, should be available for buildings listed for preservation by the central authority.
. The Department of Finance should review the stamp duty requirement for listed buildings which had undergone major conservation work.
. An annual grant scheme for listed buildings should be established, not exceeding £5 million to fund projects where tax incentives do not apply.
. The designated grant giving authority scheme should be augmented by a programme of smaller grants administered by planing authorities to cover minor repairs or maintenance up to around £5,000.
. Grants should be made available for feasibility studies.
The group says its architecture inventory proposal is a basic management tool. Only after systematic identification, classification and evaluation of architectural heritage could informed judgments be arrived at and a planned programme of preservation put in place.
The group came out against centralising the preservation of buildings. Any such proposal, it said, would not be appropriate in view of the Government's commitment to local government.