Govt urged to thatch a plan to preserve housing heritage

The owner of a local thatch cottage dating back to the 1800s has made an impassioned plea to the Irish government to help protect this important part of our heritage before it is lost forever due to the astronomical cost of insurance and insufficient funding towards the high maintenance costs.

Áine McGarry put her heart and soul into the restoration of Trohanny Cottage, near Moynalty, over the past 20 years to turn it from a derelict cottage with a red tin roof into a stunning example of a traditional Irish cottage, with painstaking attention to detail.

With the thatch insurance crisis finally hitting the headlines in recent months, Áine says discussions about the insurance issues and the rapid disappearance not only of the art of thatching but also the thatched roofs themselves, are long overdue.

She told how approximately 20-25 per cent of thatched roofs have been lost in Ireland over the last 20 years and it is estimated that there are just over 1,000 intact cottages remaining on the Island of Ireland.

Áine says there are other reasons but the main two are insurance and maintenance costs.

"Not only is the cost of insuring a thatch roof astronomical, it is a gamble whether you'll get anywhere to cover you at all. I had been insured with a British company but since Brexit, UK providers exited the Irish market.

"There is at present only one company in the whole country that will now cover for thatch insurance."

The other huge factor in the demise of traditional thatch is the ongoing maintenance and Áine told how their own cottage is due repairs and they have been given a quote of €11,000.

A thatching grant of €3,800 is available from the Department of Heritage and Local Government but hasn't increased since it was introduced over 30 years ago in 1990. Áine said she applied for a Heritage Council grant of €8,500 but was refused. "This means I have to find €7,200 of my own money to cover the cost of my thatched roof, not including annual bluestoning (copper sulphate application) and general repairs needed.

"So here I am with a building of heritage declared listed by the government, that I cannot change, nor would I want to, but that I am struggling to keep maintained and insured with minimal support from the Irish Government.

"The reason I decided to start renting the cottage through Airbnb was to help pay for maintenance and literally to keep the (thatch) roof over our heads. But it barely covers the cost of fuel, oil and electricity and with the rising costs of everything and I've had to increase my price which will mean less bookings."

Áine says it would break her heart to remove the thatched roof but it is a reality that many thatch cottage owners are facing. She is appealing to government to support them before this part of of Irish heritage is lost forever.

"If the Government of Ireland accept that the retention of our heritage of thatch is important then they must also accept that they have a responsiblity to fund and facilitate traditional thatching and thatch buildings and that includes the ability to protect those buildings through affordable insurance and appropriate grant funding

"I hope my grandchildren don't have to 'google' to see what an Irish thatched roof once looked like or have to pay into a folk park to see an example.

"As long as I am alive I'll fight tooth and nail to keep that thatch on Trohanny Cottage but the sad truth is that certainly at present I will have to fight alone".

It took a lot of hard work to make the house anyway habitable and one of their proudest moments was seeing the golden thatch back on the roof. Joe, a stonemason worked on the cottage for five years, turning it into something truly special until his untimely death in a road traffic accident in 2005 when he was just 30 years old. Áine says as custodian she will do everything in her power to continue to preserve the cottage but that the government must now step up the plate and support thatch cottage owners before it is too late.

Áine has charted her journey of restoring Trohanny Cottage in a series of blogs on her website www.Trohannycottage.ie where you can also read her full blog 'the last straw' about the challenges facing thatch cottage owners.

See also @trohannycottage on social media.