A SIX-WEEK cut in the opening times of many heritage and garden sites is to be implemented in order to save costs.
They will close a month earlier than usual this year and will not open until early April the following year.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) has confirmed that the open season in all but its top visitor attractions is to be curtailed as part of the cost-saving exercise.
The cuts will affect those centres which close for the winter and are staffed by seasonal guides.
The cuts mean that attractions such as Ross Castle in Killarney, normally open from St Patrick's Day until November, will not now open until early April and will close a month earlier, in mid-October.
Visitor numbers to the 70 properties staffed with tourist guides employed by the OPW have not been fully compiled for 2008, but there had been a reduction of at least 6 per cent to most sites on the previous year, an OPW spokesman said.
The budget for the OPW also only allowed for the recruitment of a set number of seasonal guides. Budgetary constraints this year, allied with the drop in visitors, led to the decision to shorten the number of weeks during which sites are to open for 2009, the spokesman said.
However, all sites will open and the State's key attractions, the Botanic Gardens, the Rock of Cashel, Muckross House in Killarney, Kilmainham Gaol and Newgrange will be unaffected.
There has been condemnation of the reduction at the lakeside Ross Castle with tourism spokespeople saying the traditional start to tourism in Killarney was St Patrick's Day.
Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce president Donnacha Galvin called on Minister of State for the OPW Dr Martin Mansergh to restore the castle opening times to 2007/2008 levels.
"It is nothing short of economic folly to reduce the availability of key visitor attractions like Ross Castle at a time when all involved in tourism, including Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, are acutely aware of the immense challenges facing the industry in 2009 and beyond," Mr Galvin said.
The cutbacks would amount to 30 per cent of the site's availability to the public, he said.
Some 2.43 million people visited OPW-staffed heritage sites in 2007, an increase of more than 7 per cent on the previous year. About 365 seasonal guides are recruited each year.
The closing date for completed application forms for the position of seasonal guides this year was yesterday.