- Eighteen towns across Ireland share the total €2m allocation.
- The project addresses vacancy and supports traditional building skills in the town centre.
- The initiative promotes heritage-led regeneration and has improved the quality of historic towns and villages for residents and tourists.
The Heritage Council has revealed that 18 historic towns will share €2m funding under the 2026 Historic Towns Initiative (HTI).
This year’s scheme follows on from projects during 2018 to 2025. The HTI seeks proposals that encourage the specific re-use of historic buildings. The awards will support residential and business re-use in towns across Ireland by keeping historic buildings in good conservation condition.
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.
The announcement was made along with Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government, James Browne and Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan.
Minister Browne shared: “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 shared: “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.”
Virginia Teehan Chief Executive of the Heritage Council, shared:“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.”
TEN conservation projects:
- 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
EIGHT heritage-led regeneration projects:
- 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
Ballina, Co Mayo
The project will continue to assist private owners and/or occupiers, Mayo County Council, cultural institutions and community groups to bring and keep existing, vacant or underused floor areas in historic buildings in use and address dereliction and vacancy. 2026-27 €240,000
Enniscorthy
Wexford has received €287,000 heritage funding to kickstart the Castle Quarter plan but €9m has remained outstanding. The funding has gone towards conservation efforts in the historic Enniscorthy Castle. The town has been selected as one of 18 towns to share an allocated €2m as part of the Historic Towns Initiative. 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). 2026-27 €287,864.
Fermoy, Co Cork
The proposed works to 26 McCurtain Street at the Old Soldier’s Home will repair the 19th century structure and restore its historic character. The building has been vacant for almost a decade and is deteriorating due to water ingress. Replacing the current 20th century alterations to the windows, downpipes, and shopfront with appropriate conservation style features will significantly improve the visual appearance of the building with the town centre Architectural Conservation Area (ACA). 2026-2027 €350,000
Inchicore, Dublin City
In 2025, a Conservation Management Plan, funded by the Heritage Council under the Historic Towns Initiative (HTI) 2025 for DCC Conservation Section, was prepared to guide conservation and heritage-led regeneration of Inchicore /Kilmainham, Dublin 8. This funding in 2026 will be used to identify projects that can be undertaken in the short, medium and long-term to include maintenance & conservation led- repair work, shopfronts restoration and conservation of historic material and joinery. €156,000.
Kells, Co Meath
The Convent of Mercy Churches in Kells are a prominent feature in the Kells Historic Core Architectural Conservation Area (ACA). This project will address water ingress by adhering to conservation best practice, including salvaging and reusing existing cast iron gutters and rainwater pipes, resetting existing rainwater goods, and using traditional materials like NHL lime mortar and code lead. This project will also include the installation of a sustainable non-fossil fuel heating solution which will facilitate the hosting of events throughout the year.2026 €200,000
Kinsale, Co Cork
Kinsale Market House is a focal building within Kinsale Town centre, it is also a National Monument and houses a local Kinsale museum. The building is, however, in poor condition and essential conservation works are necessary to address safety concerns and to provide for its long-term survival. This project will retain and enhance character in an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) designation. This project will considerably enhance the public realm of the town centre and thus increase the tourism potential of the town. 2026 €200,000
Mallow Castle, Co Cork
Funding is awarded to restore the remaining external windows of Mallow Castle House, which are at an advance state of disrepair. This will complete the external restoration and conservation of Mallow Castle House. 2026-2027 €325,000
Monaghan town, Co Monaghan
The Rossmore Memorial Fountain has a key location in Monaghan Town’s Architectural Conservation Area (ACA). By restoring this landmark feature, the project will improve the visual coherence and amenity value of the ACA, making the area more appealing for investment, residential conversion, and small‑scale adaptive reuse. This directly supports the Town Centre First Plan, which highlights the importance of high‑quality public realm, placemaking, and heritage conservation as drivers for town centre revitalisation. 2026 €80,000
Sligo town, Co Sligo
The project will conserve Sligo City Hall, which is the principal public building in the city centre. A nationally important building completed in 1872 it is currently in need of priority maintenance and repair works to prevent ongoing deterioration to the building fabric. Work will be focused on the repair of the exterior of the building, including reinstatement of missing cast iron features; it will also involve restoration of floor finishes with in the main public entrance hall. Specialist joinery and iron repair works will continue into 2027. The project will also include repair work to the nearby Yeats Memorial Building, which is also of national importance. Repairs to the front and side of the Yeats Memorial building were undertaken in 2021 as part of the Sligo O’Connell Street HTI project. 2026- 2027 €350,000
Tralee, Co Kerry
This project will support building owners to carry out conservation-led upgrading of buildings on Castle Street. The focus of the scheme will be to improve the streetscape through facade enhancement, repair of historic elements and will support owners to develop vacant buildings, especially at upper floor level. It follows on from a similar project in 2025 and a 2024 Tralee Chamber of Commerce commissioned report supported by the Heritage Council in 2024. 2026 €100,000
