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Traditional farm buildings are to be rescued from demolition
by a new EU-funded grant scheme.
The Heritage
Council - which has expressed concern many buildings
are “being lost through neglect” - is to administer the scheme
and provide cash to owners of the endangered buildings to
enable conservation.
Anna Meenan, the project manager, said “distinctively Irish”
old farm buildings are “what make our countryside so interesting
and distinguish it from the rest of Europe”.
She said that since Ireland had joined the EU, farmers had
adopted a “tidy farmyard policy”, which resulted in many outbuildings
being demolished and replaced by modern buildings.
The council wants to conserve this aspect of the “vernacular”
architectural heritage because the buildings provide an invaluable
insight into “how our ancestors farmed and lived, thought
and built”. Ms Meenan said many of the beautiful - mainly
stone - buildings were “made of local materials selected by
farmers themselves and can never be replicated”.
Eligible projects could include the restoration of pigsties
and henhouses from the 1950s. The council has a budget for
the scheme for 2010 of €1 million and hopes to fund “about
50” projects.
Grants are available for buildings constructed “before 1960”.
“Farmhouses, residential or domestic buildings” are not eligible,
nor are “corrugated hay barns - even those from the 1920s
and 1930s”.
Grant awards will vary between €5,000 and €25,000. Applications
must be received by the Heritage Council by 5pm on March 26th.
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Source - The Irish Times
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