Maidir leis an mBille seo, I am not going to compliment the commissioners on their work in preserving ancient monuments. They have pointed and done some work on certain monuments over a number of years. They have left them under the care of caretakers whose duties do not appear to be specified. The monuments become overgrown with weeds, shrubs, small trees and everything else. The money spent on them is a dead loss.
Take the case of Fore Abbey which is one of the most historical piles we have in the Midlands. The Board of Works spent some hundreds of pounds on it years ago. They did a good job on it. They pointed the old gates going into the City of Fore and they pointed the old abbey. They did some preservation on the cloisters, which they dug up and reconstructed, but they then let the place go into decay. In the last two years, however, the local branch of Muintir na Tíre had on their own initiative pulled up the weeds and bushes and cleared a way in out of their own funds. Without this action and without the sand and gravel which had been put down, I believe that Fore Abbey would be unapproachable. From the tourist point of view, there were often as many as seven C.I.E. buses in the village on the one day, and the tourists had to go and look for the caretaker to get the key. A book giving the historical background to the abbey had been produced some years ago and in order to obtain this very well-turned-out publication they had to go to the local public-house where possibly a copy would be procured for them. That was not a proper way to do things. The caretaker's duties should be well defined and there should be some place where the tourists could get a copy of the historical associations of the monument. The caretaker should be available at all times and the monument should not be under lock and key except at night.
The preservation of historical monuments requires the co-ordination of many Departments in the State. Up to this year practically every road leading to the village of Fore was nearly impassable. One road was repaired this year and about four others remain to be done. The cooperation of the Department of Local Government is necessary so that grants could be made available for these roads. Fógra Fáilte—whose fate we do not know—did show a keen interest in the past year in the matter of roads. It should be a matter for the Oireachtas and the Government to see that ruined walls and unsightly approaches to this monument and others are removed, and that where there is a green—as in the village of Fore—it should be planted with shrubs and trees. In other countries where they have monuments not half so valuable, this was done. I do not know if there are greater monuments historically or architecturally than ours in other countries, but I do know that if other countries had the monuments we have the road approaches to them would be good and there would be shrubs and suitable small trees planted along the highway. That should be our approach to the matter, too.
In my county, we have a number of these monuments, On one of the islands in the Shannon we have a very historic church, and while I cannot give the architectural details of it, I think it is preserved by the Board of Works. It is worth going to see, but if you do, you have to inquire where the island is, whether a boat is available, and who will row you across. You need to be well versed to know the island is there at all, and that there is such an historic church on it. As I said about Fore, if they had such an island anywhere else with such ruins they would do everything to attract tourists to it, and there would be printed literature available.
Fógra Fáilte and the Board of Works are, I think, considering the preservation of Delvin Castle and village, and the building there has become a positive danger to the houses around about, and if some action is not taken soon, it will fall and kill someone. We cannot have delay in these matters if we want to preserve these monuments and if we do not want them to do damage. I draw the attention of the Minister and those responsible for this Bill to that particular point.
Again, in my county we have—I think it is a combination—the remains of a castle and church at Kirpatrick. There you have a stone roof far and away bigger and better than the one that is preserved at Glendalough. I draw attention to the fact that in one corner it is beginning to fall in. I have drawn the attention of Fógra Fáilte to that fact. There is also an old Norman keep at Newtown which attracted many people, but again the approaches are impassable, and if this Bill is going to do anything it should remedy such situations. I saw in Wales and in many other countries of Europe the meticulous care and the amount of money spent on things of lesser value.
One of the Deputies—I think it was Deputy Lynch—on the other side referred to the monuments to patriots, and said that they should be preserved, and I endorse what he said. When we think of the magnificent work put into the '98 monuments by Irish artists 60 years ago and contrast it with the atrocities being put up now to the men of 1921, surely we should go down to Wicklow and honour our artists, the Hogans and the rest of them, who did splendid creative work in marble and stone in Wicklow and elsewhere and ensure that these monuments are preserved.
I would not agree with the Deputy that we should make any endeavour to preserve the atrocities costing hundreds of pounds which have been put up to the 1921 men. I believe it is intended to put up one proper monument and that is the one at the Custom House. But when we look at the things they are putting up now to men of our own generation I would not agree with the Deputy that we should preserve them. We should do everything possible to preserve the work done 60 years ago to honour the men of '98.
I do hope that as a result of this Bill the approaches to all our historical piles and buildings will be made passable, that proper roadsides and greens will be provided and that we will have a great speed-up in the Board of Works. Those responsible in the Board of Works for deciding whether something is worth preserving or not should take a broader view. There are places like Killafree in County West-meath with monuments which might not meet the eye or the taste of an expert but which are of grave significance to the local people who take a great pride in them. They can trace their history back 400 or 500 years and when local people through their local county councils draw attention to these things as being worth preserving, the experts in the Board of Works should have a broader and a more tolerant approach.