Traditional Farm Buildings Scheme to reopen in January

The Traditional Farm Buildings Scheme will be open once again in January for 2019 applications, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has confirmed.

This scheme is jointly funded by the Department of Agriculture and the European Union, and is administered on behalf of the department by the Heritage Council.

The financial allocation to the scheme is €6 million for the lifetime of the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme.

All applications are assessed individually to identify the best and highest-priority projects.

Under this scheme, grants are available to GLAS participants to carry out approved conservation works to traditional farm buildings and associated landscape structures such as historic yard surfaces, walls, gate pillars and gates.

The principal objective of this scheme is to ensure that traditional farm buildings and other structures that contribute to the character of the landscape and which are of significant heritage value are conserved for agricultural use.

The grants available range between €4,000 and €25,000 and can cover up to 75% of the cost of the works.

Eligible applicants for the scheme are chosen on a competitive basis and around 50 to 70 projects will be supported each year.

There are 60 projects ongoing in 2018 and most of these are in progress now and will be nearing completion over the next couple of months.

The 2019 scheme will be launched by the Department and the Heritage Council in the first week of January 2019 and there will be application forms available at that stage on the Heritage Council website.

In a statement, the department said it is “delighted to be associated with this scheme which continues to make a huge contribution to preservation of these beautiful structures which are part of our rural heritage and enhance the rural landscape”.