Galway City Council has been awarded €77,000 under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme for small scale works on historic structures.
This fund aims to conserve the built heritage in which is part of what attracts tourists to visit Galway City, creating direct and indirect gains for the local economy and sustaining traditional skills.
By providing grants of between €2,500 and €15,000, with applicants required to provide a minimum of 50% of the total costs, this scheme is meant to encourage private capital investment in labour intensive work on historic structures.
It also supports the employment of skilled and experienced conservation professionals, craft workers and tradespeople.
Structures eligible to apply for funding from this scheme must either be included in the Register of Protected Structures, of which there are 619 in the city.
Or they must be part of and contribute to the character of an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) of which there are eleven areas in the city.
Application forms are available from the city council website and must be submitted no later than 4pm on Friday, January 24 to Caroline Phelan, Senior Planner at the City Council planning department.
This Scheme will be running throughout 2020, with €2.5 million granted to local authorities around the country by the Department of Culture, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht.
Applications made under this scheme will be assessed by their value for money, the quality of the works proposed, and the employment opportunities they create.
The Department has said that no more than 20% of the funds being provided may be used on buildings owned by the city council or otherwise in public ownership.
