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GRANTS PROGRAMMES
The Heritage Council’s grants programme continues
to support local and community initiatives across the
Country. A full list of those supported is contained
in the Financial Statements. The following selection
illustrates the variety of support on offer.
Heritage Council Grants for 2009
• Grant support provided to 16 Local Authorities
for 20 projects to aid in the development and
implementation of their Local (City or County)
Biodiversity Action Plans, including for example,
critical research into the strongholds of the
declining Barn Owl in Cork and Kerry as well as the
provision of fencing to protect the breeding wader
population on Inishee Island in the Shannon.
• The INSTAR (Irish National Strategic
Archaeological Research) Programme allocated
funding to ten projects in its second year of
operation. INSTAR aims to help realize the
potential of Ireland’s archaeological record and
to transform understanding of how Irish society
has evolved. Projects funded in 2009 included
analysis of the range of plants introduced by the
first farmers in Ireland, mapping of the seabed for
wrecks and drowned landscapes, and examination
of Irish bogs for evidence of climate change.
Irish Shark Hunters Gather:
Greencastle, October 2009
The seminar, which received support under the
Heritage Council’s Local Heritage Grant Scheme
2009, helped to cement the developing International
reputation of Inishowen and North Donegal as ‘shark
infested waters’. The audience was presented with
research conducted during 2008 and 2009 by the
Irish Basking Shark Study Group, which identified
Malin Head as one of the top European ‘hotspots’
for basking sharks. Unfortunately Ireland is one of
the last countries in the E.U. where basking sharks
are not protected under national legislation. The
gathering successfully brought together the majority
of information on basking sharks in Irish waters
both historic and modern, including a rare showing
of the 1951 film ‘Shark Island’ by Hugh Falkus
which was believed for many years to have been
lost or destroyed. The Irish Basking Shark Group
who organised the seminar now aims to develop a
biodiversity action plan for basking sharks in Irish
waters. They believe this is currently the most apt
method to develop a political impetus in Ireland for
gaining future legal protection out to our 12 nautical
mile limit.
Irish Shark Hunters Seminar October 2009.
20 THE HERITAGE COUNCIL 2009 ANNUAL REPORT