Two Louth projects receive funding under Community Heritage Grant Scheme

Two projects in Louth have secured a total of €19,196 in funding under the Heritage Council’s 2025 Community Heritage Grant Scheme. 

The Heritage Council is distributing more than €1.9 million through the Scheme this year to support 132 heritage initiatives across Ireland. These grants will enable local communities to conserve and celebrate Ireland’s built, cultural, and natural heritage. The funding recipients in Louth are as follows:

• Comhaltas - Oriel Centre Dundalk Gaol - €15,560
• Blackrock Tourism and Development Group - €3,636

The €3,636 in funding awarded to the VisitBlackrock Tourism Group will support the Dudley Lifeboat Restoration – Feasibility Study,  a detailed assessment of the potential to preserve and restore the historic General R. Dudley Blake lifeboat as a heritage and tourism attraction.

The lifeboat holds deep significance for Blackrock’s maritime heritage, having served as a symbol of safety and resilience following the Mary Stoddart Disaster in Dundalk Bay in 1858. This grant represents an important first step in exploring how the vessel can be conserved, celebrated, and potentially made accessible to the public.

Comhaltas at the Oriel Centre at Dundalk Gaol is to receive €15,560 for the renewal of user interface technology
at Dundalk Gaol.

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All funded projects can begin work immediately and are expected to be completed by the end of the year. Previous recipients in Louth have used this funding to restore architectural features, digitise local archives, and carry out conservation training — strengthening both the preservation of heritage and the local economy.

In 2024, the scheme funded the Highlanes Gallery to install a collections management system, supported Drogheda Tidy Towns to refurbish 24 historic wards in Drogheda and related street signage and funded the Friends of Ardee Bog to undertake an ecological assessment at Ardee Bog by investing in equipment for monitoring and data recording.