Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and local Fingal TD Darragh O’Brien has welcomed funding of €40,000 for St. Peter & Paul's Church, Balbriggan and €50,000 for Lambay Castle under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Historic Structures Fund.
 
Minister O’Brien, who recently visited St. Peter & Paul's Church, said the funding would go towards conservation and restoration works and would be pivotal to protecting the beautiful collection of stained glass windows.
 
The Church of St. Peter & Paul’s Balbriggan is known for its stained glass windows by Harry Clarke Studios and is home to two original stained-glass windows, the Visitation and The Widow’s Son, designed and created by Harry Clarke himself.
 
Commenting Minister O’Brien said, “I’m delighted to see these two local projects supported by my Department’s Historic Structures Fund. Both St. Peter & Paul’s Church and Lambay Castle are two fantastic offerings in North County Dublin and must be protected.
 
“This fund assists owners of heritage structures – including those on the local authorities’ Record of Protected Structures and those in Architectural Conservation Areas – to meet their obligations to care for their properties.
 
“The scheme provides assistance to a wide range of heritage structures. Nationally this year’s fund includes awards to historic bridges, castles, churches, mills, libraries, shopfronts, and an old forge, as well as to private houses.
 
“Schemes such as the Historic Structures Fund help to safeguard our rich built heritage, keeping many buildings in use and bringing many others back into use.
 
“There is an additional and welcome knock-on economic benefit of generating employment for heritage contractors and other skilled crafts and tradespeople across the country,” he concluded.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Local Fingal TD, Darragh O’Brien officially opened two Prosper Fingal facilities in North County Dublin, Ballustree Lodge in Rush and The Obelisk Day Service in Skerries.
 
Prosper Fingal provides services and supports to adults with an intellectual disability in North County Dublin. Today almost 500 individuals and their carers are supported by Prosper Group across County Fingal and County Meath.
 
Commenting Minister O’Brien said, “From speaking with staff, with service users and their families at both Ballustree Lodge and The Obelisk it was very clear to see that Prosper Fingal are very much excelling in their mission to ‘support each individual to live the life they choose, in the same way and same places as everybody else’.
 
“The day spent with them in both Rush and Skerries was one of the most joyful days and it was a real honour for me to be invited to officially open the services which were described by some family members as ‘home from home’.
 
“The entire team at Prosper Fingal are to be highly commended on what they have done, it’s hard work and efforts which have brought both of these projects to fruition, and I will continue to do everything I can to support them,” he concluded.