Vol. 540 No. 3
19 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the number of supervised archaeological explorations in hand throughout the country; the number of such sites already explored or excavated; the number planned for the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20435/01]
It is not possible to quantify the numbers of sites where archaeological excavations have taken place since the foundation of the State. As the Deputy may already be aware, archaeological investigations and excavations must be licensed by my Department. So far this year, a total of 637 excavation licences have been issued, most of which relate to planning and development. It is likely that the number of licences issued by the end of this year will exceed 1,000.
My Department has recently advertised for tenders for archaeological investigative excavations at two national monuments, Kindlestown Castle in County Wicklow and Jigginstown House, County Kildare. Research excavations, which form a very small proportion of excavations carried out annually, are traditionally undertaken by academic archaeologists during summer vacations. Eight such licenses issued last year but so far, none have been issued in respect of this year.
