Access to heritage is highlighted at Heritage Ireland 2030 summit held in Dublin

The summit brought together practitioners, heritage bodies, and members of the public to celebrate heritage and consider implementation of Heritage Ireland 2030, the national heritage plan published by the Irish government in 2022.

This year’s summit, which was hosted by broadcaster Anne Cassin with over 250 people expected to attend, focuses on the theme of Access to Heritage.

Attendees heard of partnerships and investment, the need to better work together, and the benefits of doing so to ensure greater and better access to heritage for all.

Minister of State with responsibility for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD, said: “Every year, this summit provides an important opportunity for those working and interested in heritage to come together and to discuss ideas and identify ways we can work together to protect and celebrate our heritage.

“This year’s summit will focus on an important area of access. The right of everyone to engage with heritage is recognised within the strategy, putting citizens and communities at the centre of how Ireland’s heritage is managed. heritage is for everyone and we all must do all we can at all times to make it as accessible as possible to as many as possible.”

Minister Noonan added: “I want to thank all our wonderful speakers and the attendees who will be joining us in what has become an annual celebration of heritage.

“I am pleased to say we have clearly delivered on the vision of Heritage Ireland 2030 since its publication with unprecedented investment in heritage and we must now build on those very strong foundations for the remainder of the decade and beyond the lifetime of the strategy.”

Several initiatives to improve access to the heritage sector were highlighted and discussed at the event.

The summit’s keynote speaker will be Dr Tomás Mac Conmara and his talk – Towards A Greater Listening: Accessing Ireland’s Oral Heritage – will reflect on the value and potential for oral heritage as a pathway towards a greater understanding of both the past and the present.

Dr Mac Conmara, an award-winning oral historian and author from Co Clare, aims to underline how a greater provision of access to oral heritage collections will open potential to a range of sectors in Ireland.

Local heritage projects from around Ireland, centred around community engagement and improving access, will be represented with speakers from:

• Wexford: Barrystown Silvermines Engine House conservation project, which is receiving money under the Community Monuments Fund
• Tipperary: Loughmore Castle in Tipperary, which also received Community Monuments Funding
• Waterford City and Cappoquin: Wonder Wander Traills
• Meath: Hill of Lloyd grassland management strategy developed to assist with sustainability and biodiversity protection at the popular site

There was also a dedicated session in which the work of the Heritage Council and its partners are showcased by speakers from the Heritage Council, the Irish Community Archive Network, Leave No Trace Ireland, and from The Hunt Museum.

The talks explored how communities across Ireland were getting involved in heritage and biodiversity projects, including in the development of digital community archives as well as highlighting the critical need for the protection of biodiversity for future generations.

Measures were also be discussed highlighting the value of collaboration and positive activism through co-creation, to increase disability access and inclusion, for the blind/visually-impaired and the autism community to the benefit of all.

The summit concluded with a panel discussion and Q&A with State heritage bodies, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Irish Heritage Trust, the National Museum of Ireland, the Office of Public Works, and the Heritage Council on various initiatives around access as well as the challenges and ambition to improving access to heritage for all.