Two Donegal locations are to receive €350,000 under Historic Towns Initiative.
Deputy Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher has welcomed the funding of €300,000 for Glenties and €50,000 for Raphoe.
The Glenties award will build upon progress in 2024 at the Laurels house (main pic) which is associated with the writer Brian Friel. The 2025 project involves working with the Brian Friel Trust to bring The Laurels (Brian Friel’s mother’s home in Glenties) back into use as a residence for a caretaker and/or artist, and as a visitor attraction to convey Friel’s literary works and his family’s history and connection with this Protected Structure.
It is hoped that tender will be invited shortly as Donegal County Council and the Trust are anxious to have this phase of the work complete by October 2025, which is the 10th anniversary of the late Mr Friel.
The Raphoe allocation will go towards a heritage-led regeneration plan. It is hoped that such plans will inform future applications for conservation funding.
The Heritage Council, along with Minister of State Christopher O’Sullivan and Minister James Browne, announced that 14 historic towns will share €2m in funding under the 2025 Historic Towns Initiative (HTI). The HTI is a joint initiative between the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Heritage Council. The €2m funding will promote heritage-led regeneration and support traditional building skills.
This year’s scheme follows on from highly successful programmes from 2018 to 2024. The HTI welcomes proposals to conserve and reuse historic buildings, and this year’s awards will support residential, business, and community uses in towns across Ireland.
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