It’s been a very long held ambition of mine to see a county archivist on staff at Kilkenny County Council and I’m proud to announce today that that will shortly come to pass. I’ve made €1m in funding available to the Heritage Council for 2025 for the recruitment of new heritage professionals who can strengthen the protection of heritage assets across the country.
It’s my hope that by the end of 2026 a full complement of local authority archivists, architectural conservation officers and archaeologists will be in place, providing comprehensive nationwide coverage of crucial heritage protection functions for the future, including right here in Kilkenny, a city and county with such a rich history and a treasuretrove of artefacts that need the care and attention a dedicated archivist can give.
Today's announcement forms part of an overall allocation of €5m to the Heritage Council aimed at strengthening heritage protection measures and making heritage more accessible at local level. It will also support the existng biodiversity and heritage officer networks, which are both hugely successful with 31 local authority heritage officers in post, along with 29 biodiversity officers since that programme was started in 2022.
Looking ahead, 2025 is shaping up to be another groundbreaking year for nature and heritage with an overall funding allocation of €172m – an increase of over 11% from last year. As my tenure as Minister draws to an close, I'm really pleased that I can bolster our work to date with the imminent recruitment of much-needed heritage professionals to local authorities all over Ireland, and especially pleased that this will result in the appointment of an archivist in my own county of Kilkenny.
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