Vol. 506 No. 5
205 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the plans, if any, she has to take over and preserve as part of our national heritage the Monivea Mausoleum, Monivea, Athenry, County Galway, which is in need of restoration; if the local development under her Department's guidance will be permitted to restore this heritage site; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15794/99]
I have no plans to take over and preserve the Monivea Mausoleum, Monivea, Athenry, County Galway.
Whilst Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department would have no objections in principle to the local development group carrying out restoration works at the site, the site is protected under the National Monument Acts 1930-1994 as a "recorded monument". This requires the owner or occupier to give two months' written notice to me of any proposals to carry out works at the site and it would be necessary that any such restoration proposals would accord with proper standards and procedures. Therefore, when a definite proposal is formulated, this should be forwarded to Dúchas for consideration, at which stage they will be in a position to assess what guidance, if any, they can give to the project.
