More than £11 million will be allocated in grants for urban and village renewal projects, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, said yesterday. He will also provide £1 million for 43 conservation projects.
The grants are funded under the Operational Programme for Local Urban and Rural Development. This has operated since 1994 and assists in the conservation of architectural heritage and the renewal of towns and villages.
Major urban renewal schemes are funded in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. Other local authorities will receive grants to continue their programmes. The grants will be supplemented from the local authorities' own resources. Since 1994 more than 700 projects have been funded nationwide.
The largest city grant goes to Dublin (£1,580,000). County council grants ranged from £133,000 to the top grant of £282,000 for Cork, followed by £276,000 for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown. The Minister also announced grants of almost £1 million for 43 conservation projects.
He and the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands were preparing a comprehensive package of proposals for the Government to address the protection of the architectural heritage.