Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 November 2004
538 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the information available to him regarding the archaeological site at Woodstown, County Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31409/04]
View answerThe Viking site at Woodstown was discovered during the course of archaeological investigations, in advance of the construction of the N25 Waterford bypass, which were being carried out on behalf of Waterford City Council under the auspices of the National Roads Authority. A report on the outcome of the investigations, which identified a previously unknown Viking site, was submitted to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and is available on the NRA website. Further archaeological investigations followed aimed at determining the nature and extent of the archaeological features. The investigations included geophysical surveys outside the CPO line, funded by the Department.
The Department issued directions under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2004 requiring further studies to be carried out by the road developers to establish the archaeological potential of a marsh area at the western end of the site. These were palaeo-environmental coring to establish the nature and extent of the sediments in this area, archaeo-geophysical prospecting techniques to establish the presence or absence of archaeological features, artefacts etc., and specialised test trenching to establish the archaeological potential of the area. Correspondence was recently received from the NRA enclosing reports on the results of the additional investigations. In accordance with the provisions of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 I will consider the reports and consult the National Museum with a view to issuing further directions under the Act to Waterford City Council in relation to the Viking site.
