The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys, has announced the end of year results for the Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme 2014 - 540 historic structures were conserved and repaired across the country.

Restoration projects funded under the scheme included churches, country houses, townhouses, thatched properties, follies, workhouses, railway structures and former market houses.

47 of the structures have been rated in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as being of national importance. St Colman's Cathedral Cobh was rated as being of international importance.

The scheme promised that taxpayer funds would be at least matched by private investments - the €5m that was supplied by the Government unlocked €10m in private funding. 175 full time equivalent jobs were directly generated by the programme in 2014.

The works completed under the scheme will also allow the public greater access to these historic structures. 

Minister Humphreys commented: "This innovative approach aligned heritage assets with economic growth and shows how historic buildings are not only an intrinsic part of Ireland’s heritage, but can also provide a real boost to job creation in the construction, conservation and tourism sectors.  The heritage sector has long argued that heritage conservation supports employment in SMEs, and the results of this scheme demonstrate that this is the case."