Trust to manage historic buildings planned

Environment: The Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, has said he intends to present proposals to Government next year to…

Environment: The Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, has said he intends to present proposals to Government next year to establish a national trust to manage historic buildings and sites. Liam Reid reports.

Announcing details of his Department's €2.4 billion budget next year, the Minister also warned that he was expecting better service from local authorities for the Government funds they receive.

However, the 9 per cent increase in expenditure on social and affordable housing, which raises spending to €1.13 billion, was criticised by unions and opposition parties as inadequate to deal in any proper way with the housing shortage for low-income families.

Overall the Department of the Environment spending will increase by 6 per cent next year.

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Within that, social and affordable housing expenditure will rise by 9 per cent to provide financing for 13,000 homes.

However, SIPTU said there was no provision for any expenditure in meeting the Government's Sustaining Progress commitments for 10,000 extra housing units.

The Labour environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said the rise would merely keep up with construction inflation.

According to the Estimates, the Local Government fund, which is used to finance local authorities, will increase by 8 per cent to €488.6 million, a rise described by the Minister as "modest".

He said that the increase came with a warning. "The reform of local government structures must now begin to show real improvements," he said.

"I will expect real improvements in delivery, customer service and efficiency and plain hard work." Large increases in local-authority charges would not be acceptable.

Funding for wildlife protection has jumped by 47 per cent to just over €35 million. The vast majority of this increase, €10 million, will be accounted for in compensation payments to turf-cutters to stop cutting on raised bogs.

For the first time, provision has also been made for expenditure on climate change, with €1 million set aside to provide for purchasing "credits" as part of the international emissions trading scheme. A further €2.15 million will be spent on grant aid to developing countries for their efforts to tackle climate change.

Mr Roche also said he wanted to create a new trust to manage historic buildings and sites owned by the State, which are currently run in a complicated system involving the Office of Public Works.

A trust would provide focus for the management of some 750 State-owned sites, he said, and enable private financing for some projects, especially for projects that had a revenue generating potential.

Funding for the Environmental Protection Agency will drop by 4 per cent or €1.5 million, which the Department said reflected the fact that the shortfall will be made up by industry levies for the emissions trading scheme. Also, €5 million has been allotted to cover the costs of implement the National Disability Bill, including computer equipment and software.