Since before the 1990’s marked efforts have been made to prevent the slow and steady decline of Irelands iconic traditional farmhouses and cottages. Despite campaigning, advocating and the implementation of legislation, policies, strategies, grant schemes and other initiatives the situation for these buildings has only improved incrementally and recent outlooks on the condition of the vast majority of this vulnerable built heritage is grim.
This research investigates the perceived barriers of stakeholders involved in conservation of traditional Irish farmhouses and cottages to compile a categorised typology of the complex issues hindering conservation efforts with the aim of producing a useable resource to guide future decision-making.
The paper presents a brief overview of the history and context of traditional Irish farmhouses and cottages along with the key authorities and initiatives that have been influencing conservation efforts for these buildings. It also presents an overview of the principles and standards of conservation internationally expected for such buildings. It continues to outline the methods and techniques used to select and gather the barriers of a range of stakeholders, and the methodology used in analysing and categorising this data. The findings of this research reinforce the necessity for many measures recently and currently being implemented by heritage authorities in the Republic of Ireland but also highlights and discusses some areas that are still being overlooked.
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