Kildare Awarded Over €360,000 By Community Monuments Fund

Thursday, 6 April 2023 11:36

By Caoimhe Harney

The scheme contains a range of measures that seek to enable conservation to be carried out on archaeological monuments

Five Kildare projects have been allocated funding under this year’s Community Monuments Fund.

This year’s fund represents an increase of 33% over last year’s allocation, with €368,860 being awarded to the projects in Kildare.

This year’s CMF awards include:

€120,000 in funding under Stream 1 for Kildare Cathedral Round Tower
€100,000 in funding under Stream 1 for Laraghbryan Church
€73,731 in funding under Stream 1 for Donacompher Church
€60,000 in funding under Stream 1 for Clane Friary
€15,129 in funding under Stream 2 for Tipper Church

Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, TD, has announced the award of €8 million in funding for 140 archaeological heritage projects throughout the country as part of the Department’s Community Monuments Fund for 2023.

The core objective of the Community Monuments Fund is to support the conservation, maintenance, protection, and promotion of local monuments and historic sites, in alignment with the aims of the Government’s new heritage plan, Heritage Ireland 2030, and the Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan.

The scheme contains a range of measures that seek to enable conservation to be carried out on archaeological monuments in need of urgent support, encourage access to these monuments and improve their presentation, and build resilience to enable these monuments to withstand the effects of climate change.

The scheme offers three funding streams to support a broad range of measures aimed at protecting and promoting archaeological monuments, including emergency conservation repair works at monuments, masonry repair, the development of Conservation Management Plans, access infrastructure and installation of interpretation signage, and communication projects aimed at disseminating knowledge of Ireland’s archaeological heritage.