Vol. 505 No. 4
143 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands when a report which deemed a location (details supplied) to be categorised as souterrain was drafted; the evidence available to her professional staff for this categorisation; the date on which this location was categorised; if this categorisation has, in effect, sterilised the ground involved developmentally as a consequence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13866/99]
This site was categorised as a souterrain on the basis of its depiction in the first edition ordnance survey map of 1838. Such cartographic evidence was one of the primary sources used in the compilation of a paper survey known as the sites and monuments record, which was completed for County Mayo in 1991.
The sites and monuments record has since been subsumed into the statutory record of monuments and places for County Mayo published on 24 April 1997 under section 12 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1994.
In publishing the record of monuments and places regard was had to all updated information available to my Department including information generated by ongoing field inspections and confirmation on the sites originally identified in the sites and monuments record. This particular souterrain site was inspected on 9 April 1997 and was found to have been built upon. Nevertheless the categorisation and inclusion in the record of monuments and places has not been removed as there is a strong likelihood that sub-surface archaeological features still remain intact.
