An important heritage project in Co Laois which was halted last year due to lack of funding has been given a boost with the announcement of a £250,000 grant under the Government's Social Economy Programme.
Abbeyleix Heritage House, a former schoolhouse on the eastern approach to the town, is a designated project under the National Heritage Towns scheme. After an initial capital allocation and fund-raising by a voluntary heritage committee, it closed after three years due to insufficient funds for day-to-day running.
"I could not believe the profound effect that closure had on the community," says Ms Mary White of the Abbeyleix Heritage Company, which runs the house and has tirelessly worked to raise funds for it. The house had been a "flagship" project for Laois and it had been sad to witness its closure. She would "never forget" the day the doors closed in January.
The news of the grant is "brilliant", says Ms White, but she concedes that the heritage house will have to develop a more commercial drive to ensure its survival. This may mean renting out part of the building.
"We provide a service, but heritage centres, by their nature, don't make money. We could just not survive without the new grant. It's as simple as that."
Already, workers employed on the FAS-funded Community Employment and Social Economy schemes have moved in to tackle the job of tidying up the house and museum.
Ms Amanda Petlow, heritage officer for Laois and Offaly county councils, believes the method of allocating funding for heritage projects needs to be reviewed.
Bord Failte provided the initial capital allocation for Abbeyleix House, but provided no additional funding for the running of the house, she said.
"The running costs are a severe burden for many such groups around the country. But I think the problem is also that only so many people are interested in the details of one small town.
"Abbeyleix was on a wing and a prayer for a couple of years and they had to let the manager go last year because they just couldn't meet the salary. It was a flagship project for Co Laois and it had to close down. There are six other museums in Laois and, at the moment, all of them are struggling for funding. This is happening throughout the country."
To be viable, the Heritage House needs to make around £20,000 a year over the next three years, according to Ms Petlow. Visitors are charged £2.50 for admission.
Ms Petlow believes the present method of relying on FAS schemes is not ideal. Each worker does only 200 hours and then the project loses that expertise, she says. Nor do the schemes pay enough to make them really attractive.
"It's a really bad structure. Nobody ever said `What happens if these schemes go by the wayside?' because nobody could ever foresee a shortage of labour.
"I would be critical of the national agenda in relation to these projects and how funding is allocated. There's no point in thinking everything is rosy."
Ms Petlow believes the Social Economy Programme, which runs over a three-year period, will work for Abbeyleix House. But possibly half the building may be leased.
"We don't know what it will be yet, but it's possible it will be something that won't be open to the public at all." An advertisement for a new manager was placed in the media yesterday.
This week was also important for a second reason: the committee finally succeeded in moving an old carpet loom into the building. It had lain in an old farmhouse, belonging to Mr Jack Cole, for years. The 26-foot long beam is part of the loom used to weave the carpets for the Titanic, which docked in Cobh just days before it sank in April, 1912.
The contract came to be awarded to the Abbeyleix Carpet Company almost by accident, when the Kildare firm initially supposed to do the work was too busy to take it on. Lord de Vesci (Abbeyleix's "landed gentry", according to Laois County Council), a friend of the Kildare factory owner, suggested the Abbeyleix firm take on the work. The de Vescis later gave the loom to the town.
Ms White said she wanted to highlight the value of the FAS schemes to the project.
Two men working on one of the schemes, Mr Norman Rothwell and Mr Peter O'Regan, helped bring the loom into the building earlier this week. They were assisted by Mr William Moynan, who provided the transport for the massive piece.
"It's all hardwood and it's being restored, but there's very little left to be done. It's a very important piece because up to then all the carpet was hand-tufted. It's 26 feet long, almost like an ESB pole, and we thought it would be impossible to get it in. It takes six men to lift it."