Ireland is home to a wide variety of buildings protected due to their architectural, historical, archaeological and cultural importance.

Despite the legal protections in place, there are concerns that many protected buildings are vulnerable to neglect, dereliction and arson, and face the prospect of being delisted.

It is up to local authorities to draw up a list of protected buildings in their area, with any future changes controlled and managed through the planning system. There are also many historic buildings in public ownership under the stewardship of State authorities.

Owners or occupiers of protected buildings are legally required to make sure that it does not become endangered through neglect, decay, damage or harm.

HELP US INVESTIGATE

We want to examine how robustly local authorities are enforcing laws to ensure protected buildings are maintained. As part of this, we will identify the scale of buildings being delisted and why.

Every year, the heritage body An Taisce releases a list of the Top 10 protected buildings most at risk of falling into a state of complete disrepair. We want to find out what authorities are doing to improve the situation of the buildings consistently on this list.

If you want to make a contribution to help this investigation happen, click the 'Fund This Proposal' button. Noteworthy investigations are sourced from and crowdfunded by the public.

You can contact us at [email protected] and find out how we work here.