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THE TOURISM MINISTER has announced where the first batch of funding for Ireland’s Ancient East will be allocated.

Twelve projects will receive part of a €1.2 million investment in the new tourism scheme, with an additional €600,000 being made available for the first stage of branded signs for all counties within the region.

This first phase of funding under the ‘New ideas in Ancient Spaces’ capital grants scheme follows a Fáilte Ireland call for applications from interested parties.

The following projects will receive funding:

• Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park Ltd – enhanced visitor experience, County Kildare (€29k);
• Titanic Connections, Cork (€50k);
• Uisneach Interpretative Centre, County Westmeath (€65k);
• Tholsel Visitor Centre, Fethard, County Tipperary (€198k);
• Redevelopment of Powerscourt Visitor Interpretation Experience, County Wicklow (€80k);
• Athlone Castle – Enhancing the Visitor Experience, County Westmeath (€76k);
• Hook Lighthouse Guided Tour Experience, County Wexford (€80k);
• Journeys of Exploration, Anglo Irish Heritage at Blackrock Castle, Cork (€160k);
• Dunleckney Maltings, Carlow (€200k);
• Birr’s Anglo Irish & Early Christian Heritage, County Offaly (€84k);
• Boyne Valley: Waterway through Time, Trim, County Meath (€86k);
• Ancient Stones, Untold Stories – St Canice’s Cathedral & Round Tower Interpretation Project, Kilkenny (€80k).

Tourism Minister Pascal Donohoe said he thinks Ireland’s Ancient East “will prove as effective and popular as the Wild Atlantic Way and will ultimately deliver significant additional numbers of visitors, revenue and jobs to the region”.

Junior minister Michael Ring added that the initiative has the potential to “deliver an additional 600,000 overseas visitors to the region and increase visitor revenue by almost 25% by 2020″.

Read: The east’s answer to the Wild Atlantic Way is ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’