Vol. 458 No. 8
99 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the progress, if any, of the interdepartmental working group on architectural heritage; if their report and recommendations will be made available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17793/95]
As I indicated in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 31 on 26 October 1995, I and my colleague, Deputy Brendan Howlin, Minister for the Environment, established in February of this year an inter-departmental working group made up of officials of my Department, the Department of the Environment and the Office of Public Works to examine and report back with recommendations on improving the protection for listed buildings, including placing the system of listed buildings on a statutory basis, introducing incentives for the proper upkeep and maintenance of such buildings and undertaking a full national architectural audit, pursuant to commitments in the policy agreement for Government, A Government of Renewal.
To date, the working group has met on nine occasions. As I indicated in the aforementioned reply, the working group is engaging in broad consultations with local authorities and with other interested bodies and persons in relation to the issues raised by its terms of reference, and representatives of the working group visited Scotland in August of this year to familiarise themselves with the Scottish listed buildings system and the incentives for the upkeep and maintenance of such buildings, and I am informed that the working group is making good progress and expects to be able to submit its report by early next year.
The working group has not been asked to prepare a report for publication but to report the recommendations of the officials for the consideration of the Minister for the Environment and myself. I can assure the Deputy that we will give careful consideration to that report and to the introduction of any necessary new policy initiatives in this area.
100 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the countries that have ratified the Convention on the Protection of Architectural Heritage of Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17795/95]
I understand that as of today, the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe had been ratified by 16 of the member states of the Council of Europe namely Belgium Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, Malta, the Netherlands Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
