OPW spent over €750,000 from funding at Altamount Gardens since 2017
It's such an impressive place
The Office of Public Works has spent over €750,000 from the funding provided for Altamount Gardens since 2017, new figures have revealed.
Fianna Fáil's Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for the amount of funding provided to each OPW heritage site in each of the years 2017, 2018 and to date in 2019.
The OPW is responsible for the conservation, management and presentation of approximately 1,000 National Monuments that are in State ownership or guardianship at 768 locations and 32 other significant Historic Properties.
Minister of State, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran said: "The conservation and presentation of these sites to the public involves a range of activities including major and minor conservation projects, ongoing maintenance of both buildings and grounds and works to facilitate or improve the presentation and interpretation of sites including Guide services, which are provided at 70 sites around the country, on either a fulltime or seasonal basis.
"As the National Monuments estate is funded as a single entity with a corresponding skilled workforce to cover major requirements in relation to conservation and other tasks, it is not possible to readily provide a breakdown of spending per site.
"OPW provides protection, maintenance, presentation and day-to-day management of a number of other historic State owned properties."
The Minister provided a breakdown of spending by site of funding provided to all such properties for the years in question.
The figures for Altamount Gardens showed that in 2017 the OPW spent €337,461 and in 2018 this was €316,800 and to date i 2019 they have spent €101,351.