Russborough to get €500k for upgrade

WEST Wicklow stately home Russborough House is to receive €500,000 in funding for upgrade works to be carried out.

Half of the funding was approved by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in recent days and is to be matched by the Apollo Trust in the UK. The grant follows a request from the Alfred Beit Foundation, which runs Russborough, to Minister Heather Humphreys.

‘More than 100,000 people have visited Russborough House and its parklands throughout 2016, and revenues at the House are also on the rise. Russborough is an important heritage site and tourist attraction for Co. Wicklow and I am pleased to be able to approve this grant of €250,000 for upgrading works at the House,’ Minister Humphreys said last week. She paid tribute to the foundation for its efforts to ensure that Russborough is emerging from a ‘difficult financial situation’.

‘I am pleased to see Russborough is planning ahead for the future with renewed confidence and I know the foundation has an ambitious vision to develop the house as a centre for education in the arts.’ She added that Russborough House is included in a published action plan for the sustainable future of Irish historic houses in private ownership, which includes a series of initiatives to help put these historic properties on a long term sustainable footing.

‘Work continues across a range of actions with regard their core links with local communities, improved investment and fiscal incentives, better promotion via Fáilte Ireland programmes and developing a more collaborative public value approach,’ she said.

The grant comes following a turbulent time for Russborough House, where the Beit Foundation was left with no choice but to sell some of its precious art works in order to fund ongoing upkeep and maintenance to secure the property’s future.

The foundation welcomed the funding, which it says will enable them ‘ to continue an essential upgrade of Russborough, securing it for the future’.