Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 May 2013
130. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a full list of national monuments in State care that are closed due to renovations or lack of funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19428/13]
View answerThere are a total of almost 1,000 individual National Monuments in State care at approx 768 locations around the country. These are managed and maintained by the OPW and include both sites which are in full State ownership and others which are privately-owned but where Guardianship arrangements exist and where the OPW provides maintenance services. This arrangement is provided for under the various National Monuments Acts. A small number of sites included in the list have National Monuments which are State owned and others which are privately held at the same location. The full list of the National Monuments in State care is available to view at http://www.archaeology.ie/NationalMonuments/NationalMonumentsinStatecarebycounty/.
As a general policy, OPW facilitates visitor access to as many National Monument sites as possible. However, access is not always feasible because of a range of issues including physical location, risks associated with dangerous structures and restrictions imposed in some cases by landowners who may wish to limit access, either temporarily or more longer term, by reason of accident risk, livestock etc. OPW would estimate that approx 10% of the National Monument sites in its care are not accessible at any given time for various reasons.
As part of its remit, the OPW also provides enhanced visitor access, together with Guide facilities in some cases, at 70 of the more prominent visitor locations nationally. These sites, some of which operate on a seasonal basis, will all continue to be open throughout the main 2013 visitor season.
There is one location only (King John's Castle, Carlingford, Co. Louth) where we are about to start a major project and where the entire site (which was formerly available to view on application to a local Keyholder) will be closed on safety grounds for the duration of the works. Apart from this instance, there are no other locations currently in the National Monuments properties managed by the OPW which are normally open but which are currently wholly inaccessible by reason of works, though in a number of locations where conservation or maintenance works are underway, it is obviously necessary from time to time to limit the areas where the public can access.
