Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 April 2015
204. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if any priority list of endangered sites or heritage buildings has been drawn up or identified; her plans to address any such issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17117/15]
View answerIn relation to sites or heritage buildings deemed to be endangered, a priority list of is not available. However, there are a number of ways in which my Department is made aware of possible risk to sites or heritage buildings, one of these being the receipt of applications for funding for their repair, conservation, preservation or safeguarding.
In that regard, funding for the protection of heritage sites and buildings will continue to be provided by my Department in 2015 via a number of schemes, which will be either directly administered or delivered through local authorities or through the Heritage Council. In February, I announced an allocation of €624,000 for the Structures at Risk Fund 2015, to enable conservation works to heritage structures, in both private and public ownership, deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration and which are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. Since 2010 over 100 structures have been conserved through this scheme.
In addition, my Department often receives information relating to existing or potential risks to sites or heritage buildings from local authorities, the Heritage Council, heritage-based NGOs and members of the public.
Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides for the protection of the architectural heritage. The Act gives primary responsibility to planning authorities to identify and protect the architectural heritage by including relevant structures on the Record of Protected Structures. Inclusion on the Record of Protected Structures places a duty of care on the owners and occupiers of protected structures and also gives planning authorities powers to deal with development proposals affecting them and to seek to safeguard their future.
The Record of Monuments and Places, as established under the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, provides legal protection for up to 130,000 known monuments of archaeological interest. My Department records all reports received of damage to monuments listed in the Record, whether deliberate interference or natural deterioration. Serious cases of illegal damage to monuments listed in the Record are forwarded to An Garda Síochána for investigation. A number of cases relating to breach of the National Monuments Acts have come before the Courts in the last few years with significant penalties imposed on conviction. In any case where a monument which is, in my opinion, of national importance is in danger I may make a preservation order in respect of it. While my Department will advise landowners regarding protection of monuments on their land, I do not have a duty to maintain monuments other than where they are in my ownership or guardianship under the National Monuments Acts.
Natura 2000 is the centrepiece of EU nature and biodiversity policy. It is an EU-wide network of nature protection areas established under the 1992 Habitats Directive. The aim of the network is to assure the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. It is comprised of special areas of conservation (SACs) (also referred to as sites of community importance in the EU context) designated by Member States under the Habitats Directive and special protection areas (SPAs) which are designated under the 1979 Birds Directive.
Ireland has publicly advertised some 429 SACs and 154 SPAs. Legal protections, consummate with those set out in the Birds and Habitats Directives, have applied to the sites since initially proposed for designation and Ireland’s planning and environmental legislation has operated under these designations.
