Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 18 Dec 2003

Vol. 577 No. 5

Written Answers. - Archaeological Sites.

John Bruton

Question:

202 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the archaeological excavations for which licences have been issued since 1997 indicating, the archaeologist to whom the licence was issued; the purpose of the excavation; if the excavation has now been completed; the principal findings of the excavation; if financial assistance was made available towards the excavation either by the State directly or by developers undertaking work on behalf of the State; if so, the amount; if a formal academic report, fully completed has been lodged for public examination in respect of the excavation; if not, the reason therefor; the current location of the objects discovered in the excavation; if these are available either for public inspection or for inspection by other qualified archaeologists and researchers; and if he has satisfied himself that value for money is being obtained in respect of the resources being expended on archaeological excavation. [31898/03]

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Cullen)

From 1997 to date, my Department has issued approximately 7,600 excavation licences. I have arranged for a copy of the database reports detailing the archaeologist and the location of their excavations to be forwarded electronically to the Deputy.

On completion of an excavation, the archaeologist holding the licence is obliged to furnish a report to my Department. This report should include a full account of the stratigraphy, features and finds including any specialist reports that were required. My Department ensures information on excavations is provided annually by contributing to the research, editing and publication of the Excavations Bulletin, which contains a summary report of excavations carried out in the relevant year. Recently, the 2001 edition of Excavation Bulletin was launched and I will arrange for a copy to be forwarded to the Deputy. The information is also available on a dedicated website, at www.excavations.ie, which is funded by my Department. My Department is examining the feasibility of making copies of all reports received publicly available. The care and conservation of artefacts retrieved from excavations, including the right to access them for research purposes, are matters for the National Museum of Ireland.

Developers fund the majority of excavations and consequently expenditure relating to these are not available to my Department. While value for money is a matter between individual developers and excavators, fuller publication and dissemination of results would undoubtedly enhance this.

My Department has made improvements to the licensing framework by improving efficiencies in the provision of licences. There is scope for further improvements to the system, which, among other things, will assist in the publication of results and which will ensure timely submission of reports by archaeologists, and these matters are being considered.