The church, in Rathangan, was built in 1870 and has fallen into disrepair in recent years with extensive works required to fix its roof.
At the January meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC) Councillor Jim Codd asked whether there was anything the council could do to assist those in the south Wexford village.
“The reason south Wexford has a particular appeal for tourists is because of its rich heritage,” he said. “This church is a work of architecture without parallel. If the people are to follow the heritage regulations it will cost €1.3m to repair, however, there was a meeting held in the village which was attended by 200 people and numerous tradespeople were willing to give their services for free.
"But they can’t, they won’t be allowed to, because of the regulations around heritage sites. It seems that you do it a certain way or you let it fall.”
Pointing out that “the protection of our culture and history” was being placed on those local to the area, Cllr Codd asking director of planning Liz Hore whether there was any way of “reducing the cost of these works”.
Noting that the council has a designated heritage officer and will soon be appointing an architectural conservation officer to assist with cases like this, Ms Hore said there were a number of funding schemes which the community in Rathangan could avail of but that there was no quick solution.
“There’s no doubt about it there are high costs associated with works of these types. There are standards for a reason, we have seen cases where problems have arisen when incorrect materials have been used in building. But we could look into a phased programme of works and see what options are available.”