County Wexford among areas selected under the Historic Towns Initiative 2026

The Heritage Council, along with Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government, James Browne TD, and Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD, have today announced that 18 historic towns will share €2m funding under the 2026 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 in funding will help to provide jobs through heritage-led regeneration and will support traditional building skills.

This year’s scheme follows on from highly successful projects during 2018 to 2025. The HTI seeks proposals that encourage the specific re-use of historic buildings. These awards will support residential and business re-use in towns across Ireland by keeping historic buildings in good conservation condition.

The project aims to reinvigorate the core heritage quarter of Enniscorthy town centre, which has struggled in the recent past with vacancy and dereliction. The Heritage Council previously funded a Heritage-led Regeneration plan for Enniscorthy in 2023 and funded streetscape works to historic properties on Slaney Street in 2021.

This HTI 2026-27 project will enable essential conservation works to Enniscorthy Castle, upgrade works to Enniscorthy Atheneum, support heritage-led rejuvenation in the adjoining streets in Enniscorthy’s Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) which currently suffers from high vacancy with a view to preserving and bringing vacant and underused heritage buildings back into use (for retail and residential purposes).

Overall, funding will be awarded to the relevant local authorities for ten conservation projects in:

Ballina, Co Mayo
Mallow Castle, Co Cork
Fermoy, Co Cork
Monaghan town, Co Monaghan
Sligo town, Co Sligo
Kells, Co Meath
Kinsale, Co Cork
Tralee, Co Kerry
Inchicore, Dublin City
Enniscorthy, Co Wexford

As well as eight plans to aid heritage-led regeneration in:

Borris, Co Carlow
Inchicore – Kilmainham, Dublin City
Ballitore, Co Kildare
Castlerea, Co Roscommon
Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Tipperary town, Co Tipperary
Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath
Wicklow town, Co Wicklow

Minister James Browne emphasised the value of this scheme to local areas:

“This funding will have a tangible benefit on the public realm of these towns and villages, protecting their built heritage and historical character. The towns and villages awarded funding today are thriving places to live and work and this funding does an important job in- making sure they continue to be, protecting our older buildings as these towns develop. I look forward to visiting these towns and seeing progress on these projects over the course of the year.”

Minister O’Sullivan added:

“The Historic Towns Initiative works because it provides practical financial support to keep historic buildings in use, ensuring that they retain their position at the heart of community life. Taken together with increased annual allocations to key funding streams like the Built Heritage Investment Scheme and the Historic Structures Fund, the €2m announced today demonstrates strong Government support for the protection of our built heritage and the promotion of heritage-led regeneration across our towns and villages.”

Chief Executive of the Heritage Council, Virginia Teehan commented:

“Heritage-led regeneration strengthens communities by fostering pride of place and sustaining traditional skills. Through the Historic Towns Initiative, we are working closely with local authorities and communities to ensure our historic towns remain at the heart of Ireland’s cultural and economic life.”