Heritage Ireland Issue 8 Summer 2018
18 July 18
Hello to all our Heritage Ireland ezine readers and welcome to our Summer 2018 edition.
We have several articles and news pieces in this issue to share with you; these focus not only on the Heritage estate in the care of the Office of Public Works but also on many other aspects of the wonderful aspects of our Culture and Heritage and we hope you will enjoy reading these fascinating insights created by our team of Guides, Historians, Gardeners etc all around the country.
As the peak summer months draw closer, OPW sites are getting busier and more visitors than ever are flocking to these wonderful places all around the country to enjoy Ireland’s heritage at first hand. In an effort to share the experience more broadly and to make it easier for people with particular challenges to come and visit, we have this year, as an initiative specially created by our Minister of State, Mr. Kevin Boxer Moran TD, introduced a measure to admit people with disabilities and their carers for free to all our paid admission sites. We are delighted to be able to respond to the Minister’s suggestion and offer this concession at OPW sites and we hope that many people will avail of it, mirroring the experience in 2017 when we – again at the Minister’s encouragement – widened the complimentary concession at paid sites to all children under the age of 12. If the current initiative is as successful as the Child programme, we will expect a significant upsurge in interest and will be happy to welcome people with disabilities and their carers to our sites in increasing numbers, where we are sure they will have a wonderful experience and derive much enjoyment.
On a broader front, we are also happy to acknowledge the Government’s recent announcement in relation to funding for the Heritage sector through the Project Ireland 2040 Programme. This is covered in detail in an article in these pages but as a general comment, we are really delighted to see that a much enhanced funding allocation is planned for the years ahead for our cultural and heritage sector. The National Cultural institutions feature prominently in this plan and OPW will of course be involved in many of the capital development projects that will begin to flow in the next few years. However, we also note that under the initiative, the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht have secured funding for Built Heritage and we are really happy to see that this includes enhanced funding for the next ten years for protection and development of National Monument sites in the care of the OPW Heritage Service.
In conclusion, we’d just like to express the hope that all our readers enjoy this small taste of what we have to offer right around the country. We’d love to see you at some of our wonderful properties and we’d encourage you to come and visit us; wherever you are, you can be sure that there’s a Heritage site not too far away. Check out our website at www.heritageireland.ie and we’ll see you there!