The famous General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin is seen by Irish people as of grave importance as a heritage site or landmark, a new survey shows.

Sited in the centre of O'Connell Street, the city's main thoroughfare, it is one of Ireland's most famous buildings, and was the last of the great Georgian public buildings erected in the capital

Heritage insurance company, Ecclesiastical, concludes that one in five Irish people feel "the building was the most historically important in Ireland."

Ecclesiastical surveyed 200 people in 23 counties over a four week period during July and August.

Next to the GPO fell Newgrange a prehistoric monument located in Co. Meath.

The other top five are the Hill of Tara, an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in Co. Meath containing a number of ancient monuments, the city of Dublin and Brú na Bóinne in Co Meath, a complex of Neolithic chamber tombs, standing stones and henges.

People's favorite heritage sites: Number one The Burren, is a karst-landscape region in northwest County Clare. Number two was Newgrange, number three the Cliffs of Moher, cliffs that rise 120 meters (394 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head. Following those was Glendalough, a glacial valley located in County Wicklow and the Hill of Tara.

The survey also concluded that four in every five people were not happy with the promotion of the aforementioned heritage sites.

Responding to the findings, Ian Doyle, head of conservation at the Heritage Council said: “There are 1,300 events in Heritage Week this year, an increase of 300 on last year and we’re seeing very large attendances at these.

“We’ve made a huge effort this year to involve families and children, through our Wild Child Day in August which was a great success and of the 1,300 events organized for Heritage Week a large proportion are child-friendly.”