Heritage Council boss questions body’s work in face of cutbacks

The head of the State body for overseeing Ireland’s built, cultural, and natural heritage has admitted he regularly questions the work it does in the face of a lack of resources and the impact it may have on the health of his staff.

Michael Starrett, the chief executive of the Heritage Council, said the organisation was continuously delivering way beyond what its current capacity should allow.

In the Heritage Council’s annual report for 2014, due to be published shortly, Mr Starrett remarks: “Whilst I want to thank everyone involved (internal and external to the organisation) for the part they are playing in that ongoing work, I continually ask myself, is the current level of effort sustainable, or indeed healthy?”

Although Mr Starrett said five successive years of budget cuts had been arrested in 2014, he stressed that the Heritage’s Council’s capacity remained “severely restricted through an ongoing failure to secure sanction for key posts”.

“This is generating real stresses and strains within the organisation,” he said.

The organisation’s funding has been slashed by almost 90% since 2011.

Mr Starrett claimed its existing staff had to try to compensate for missing skills set, while he also expressed concern about the age profile of its workforce where only one member among 14 employees was aged under 30 years. “This is not a healthy sign for any organisation and is something we need to be allowed to address quickly,” he said.

He noted that a mid-term review of the council’s Strategic Plan 2012-16 had highlighted how it was delivering way beyond what could be expected given its limited resources. Mr Starrett said the work of the Heritage Council, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, in demonstrating the worth of Ireland’s heritage required regular and ongoing investment and support for communities throughout Ireland.

“Our capacity needs to be increased to allow this to happen and one day the potential this offers will be fully realised and every citizen and visitor to Ireland will reap the benefits,” he stated.

The Heritage Council is the second state body in recent days to highlight the negative impact of government cutbacks on its work. It was revealed earlier this week that the new Charities Regulatory Authority has been warning the Government for almost a year that it does not have enough staff to fulfil its obligations. Despite repeated requests for additional employees, it has only been sanctioned one additional worker in the past 12 months to bring its staffing level to 12.

However, the Department of Justice has stated that the CRA will be provided with eight more staff members by the end of September.