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THE Valentia Island Cable Station Restoration Project is to receive €1.27m in Government funding.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, said; “This is a huge news story for Valentia and all of South Kerry. €1,270,000.00 is an enormous amount of funding for one project and is a serious vote of confidence by the Government in the plan for UNESCO status”.
“This huge funding boost that I am announcing today with my Fine Gael colleague, Minister Michael Ring through the Rural Regeneration Fund, is a giant leap forward and will be of enormous benefit to the region in terms of visitor numbers, all year round job opportunities and far brighter prospects for future generations.”
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Just last month, Newfoundland’s Tourism and Heritage Minister, was in Kerry this week for talks with Minister Griffin and Moira Murrell, Chief Executive, Kerry County Council, in relation to the Valentia Trans-Atlantic Cable Project and possible UNESCO World Heritage designation.
The laying of the undersea cable after several attempts in the mid 1860s was a global technological milestone and had reduced communications times between Europe and North America from weeks to mere minutes. It heralded the beginning of globalisation.
Now 50 years after the closure of both cable stations, it is proposed to mount a joint bid to UNESCO to have them listed as World Heritage sites.
Last December Canada placed the Hearts Content Cable Station on its UNESCO Tentative List – the first step in the designation process – and asked the Irish Government to do likewise for Valentia.
Minister Griffin said he fully supported the Valentia case and there was strong support within local and national Government for it.
In July, the Pollmeier family of Valentia Industries, donated the Cable Station building to the Valentia Island Development Company to facilitate its restoration. From their experience in Newfoundland, the UNESCO process could last five years.
