Vol. 486 No. 1
728 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the progress, if any, made towards ratifying the Granada Convention on Architectural Heritage of 1985; the nature of any legislation required; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1779/98]
The Deputy will be aware that following Dáil approval of the terms of the Council of Europe's Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe, known as the Granada Convention on 12 December, 1996, the convention was ratified by Ireland on 20 January, 1997. No new legislation was necessary to enable Ireland to ratify the convention.
The convention was ratified subject to making a declaration, as provided for under Article 25 of the convention, that Ireland reserves the right not to comply with Article 4.2c, which obliges parties to the convention to introduce, if they have not already done so, legislation permitting public authorities to require the owner of a protected property to carry out work to such a property or to carry out such work themselves if the owner fails to do so, with a view to preventing the disfigurement, dilapidation or demolition of protected properties. Withdrawal of this reservation will depend on the implementation of a package of proposals, including legislation, for strengthening the protection of the architectural heritage, which myself and my colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, will be bringing to Government shortly.
729 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the progress, if any, made towards ratifying the Valletta Convention on Archaeological Heritage of 1992; the nature of any legislation required; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1780/98]
The Deputy will be aware that following Dáil approval of the terms of the Council of Europe's Convention for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Europe, known as the Valletta Convention, on 13 February 1997, the convention was ratified by Ireland on 18 March 1997. No new legislation was necessary to enable Ireland to ratify the convention.
