Welcome to the website of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL).
DCAL is responsible in Northern Ireland for developing policy, service delivery, administration and monitoring of arts and creativity, museums, libraries, sport and leisure, visitor amenities, inland waterways and inland fisheries, Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, language diversity and the Northern Ireland Events Company. The Department also advises on National Lottery distribution.
Our vision is of a confident, creative, informed and vibrant community. Our mission is to protect, nurture and grow our cultural capital for today and tomorrow.
Our cultural capital consists of people, infrastructure and products and services. We will achieve our mission by promoting creativity, innovation, learning and diversity. Through the sustainable management of our cultural assets, we will deliver quality products and services to the widest possible audience.
The Department's aims and goals for 2004-2007 are set out in detail in our corporate strategy (full version) or (text only version).
All across the country we are helping local groups to get actively involved in recording, protecting and enjoying their heritage. We are happy to discuss potential applications with you. For further information, please phone our Development Team on 028 90310 120 or email northernireland@hlf.org.uk.
Historic Scotland safeguards the nation's built heritage and promotes its understanding and enjoyment on behalf of Scottish Ministers.
In our web site you can find information on more than 300 properties in our care and Scotland's listed buildings and scheduled ancient monuments.
We also have resources for schools and details on technical conservation and research.
The Irish Architectural Archive was established in 1976 to collect and preserve material of every kind relating to the architecture of the entire island of Ireland, and make it available to the public.
As a cumulative body of material the holdings of the Archive represent the greatest single source of information on Ireland's buildings and those who designed them.
The Archive is located at 45 Merrion Square and is open to the public from 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesdays to Fridays.
As a comprehensive regional housing authority, under existing legislation the Executive’s primary responsibilities are to:
. regularly examine housing conditions and housing requirements;
. draw up wide ranging programmes to meet these needs;
. effect the closure, demolition and clearance of unfit houses;
. effect the improvement of the condition of the housing stock;
. encourage the provision of new houses;
. establish housing information and advisory services;
. consult with District Councils and the Northern Ireland Housing Council;
. manage its own housing stock in Northern Ireland;
The Housing Executive is the Home Energy Conservation Authority for Northern Ireland.
The RSUA Practice Services Scheme was established in 1991 to provide additional support for architectural practices.
Its ambition is for every architect to have relevant, up-to-date information and advice to hand whenever required.
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded by William Morris in 1877 to counteract the highly destructive 'restoration' of medieval buildings being practised by many Victorian architects. Today it is the largest, oldest and most technically expert national pressure group fighting to save old buildings from decay, demolition and damage.
We advise. We educate. We campaign. We offer help when it's wanted and informed resistance when we are alarmed. We encourage excellence in new design to enrich and complement the historic environment.
We represent the practical and positive side of conservation. We have a firm set of principles about how old buildings should be repaired and the practical knowledge to show how these can be put into effect.
We are training the next generation to do the job with discernment and care and we are helping many others, who own or live in old buildings, to understand them better.
Our membership includes many of the leading conservation practitioners as well as home owners, living in houses spanning all historical periods, and those who simply care about old buildings.
Our successes are visible across the country. Thousands of historic buildings survive which would have been lost, mutilated or badly repaired without our intervention.
Tourism Ireland website offers a good guide for tourists from all over the world to view what Ireland has to offer.