Vol. 520 No. 2
151 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if the draft conservation guidelines issued by Dúchas are to be read as Government policy; and, if so, if this policy can be set out in the reply. [15337/00]
The draft guidelines arise from the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1999, which strengthens the protection of the architectural heritage. They have been issued to local authorities and other organisations as part of an initial consultative process. Officials from my Department are currently meeting all the local authorities, receiving responses from other interested parties, and will be taking their observations into account in formulating a revised draft which will be subject to a public consultation period before final publication. Government policy is to protect the architectural heritage and the purpose of the guidelines, in their definitive form, will be to assist planning authorities in protecting structures or parts of structures, which are of special architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social or technical interest and in preserving the character of architectural conservation areas.
