I propose to take Questions Nos. 1018 to 1020, inclusive, together.
In January last, my Department advertised publicly, including through social media, for official bodies and individuals to apply to the Department to have suitable sites considered for inclusion in the 2020 UNESCO World Heritage list. Applications must be advanced in close cooperation with the relevant local authorities which are expected to take the lead with respect to potential World Heritage nominations in their administrative areas. This ensures the longterm involvement of a statutory body in preparing a site for inclusion on the Tentative List. Officials of my Department are also available to assist and advise interested parties.
The process of readying a site for eventual UNESCO World Heritage nomination encompasses the involvement of the community at large and a wide range of stakeholders. Of critical importance when deciding whether a site should be included on the Tentative List is whether it is capable of demonstrating Outstanding Universal Value. This means that the site must possess cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of global importance for present and future generations. As such, the permanent protection of this heritage is of the highest importance to the international community as a whole. This characteristic would be rigorously assessed by an expert committee for any site under consideration for the Tentative List.
Twenty-two candidate sites were put forward for inclusion on the 2010 Tentative List with the majority coming from public bodies. In addition to the newly-nominated sites that were included in the 2010 List, certain other sites had their position on the previous Tentative List renewed. Others were not considered at that time to have demonstrated that they would meet the various criteria set by the World Heritage Committee. I will provide the Deputy with details of the 22 sites separately.
My Department is currently in the process of managing the ten-year review of Ireland’s Tentative List. In this respect, the local authorities associated with each site on the current Tentative List have been invited to review the readiness of their communities and sites to proceed to World Heritage nomination. My Department is tasked with deciding whether or not sites are likely to meet the criteria for World Heritage nomination. It will do so at the end of the review period in June 2020, and with the benefit of additional information provided by the relevant local authorities in the meantime.
The following revised reply was received on 15 July 2019
I refer to my reply of 11 June 2019 to Questions Nos. 1018,1019 and 1020 relating to the applications that were made for sites to be included in Ireland’s 2010 UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. I indicated in my response that I would provide the details of the sites separately.
The position is that, taking into account those sites that were on the previous Tentative List along with newly identified candidates, 32 sites in all were considered for the 2010 Tentative List. My reply of 11 June referred to 22 sites which unfortunately did not reflect the full extent of the proposals that were examined at that time.
The following are the particulars of the 32 sites as promised:
1. Previous Tentative List Sites Reviewed in 2010:
Name of property
|
Outcome of 2010 Assessment
|
Céide Fields, Co Mayo
|
Accepted onto 2010 Tentative List
|
City of Dublin
|
Accepted onto 2010 Tentative List
|
Clonmacnoise, Co Offaly
|
Accepted onto 2010 Tentative List
|
Western Stone Forts
|
Accepted onto 2010 Tentative List
|
Cashel, Co Tipperary
|
Accepted and subsumed into Royal Sites serial nomination
|
Clara Bog site, Co Offaly
|
Excluded on grounds of Integrity and Authenticity
|
2. New Applications Accepted on to 2010 Tentative List:
Proposer
|
Name of property
|
Outcome of Application
|
Local Authority
|
Glendalough Valley Co. Wicklow
|
Accepted and subsumed into Monastic Sites
|
Local Authority
|
Monastic Kells, Co Meath
|
Accepted and subsumed into Monastic Sites
|
State
|
Monastic Sites
|
Accepted
|
Expert Committee
|
Royal Sites
|
Accepted
|
State and NGO
|
The Burren, Co Clare
|
Accepted
|
3. New Applications Not Included on 2010 Tentative List:
New applications to add the following sites to the 2010 Tentative List were variously made by the State, local authorities, private bodies and NGOS. None was found to be eligible with the majority excluded on the grounds that they did not, at that point, demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value or because further research about the site would have been required before substantive consideration could be given to including them on the Tentative List:
The Aran Islands, Co Galway
The Battle of the Boyne, Co Meath
Birr Castle Demesne, Co Offaly
Carriaphooca Castle Demesne, Co Cork
The Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare
Clonfert, Co Galway
The Emigrants’ Story
The Great Blasket, Co Kerry
Irish Walled Towns
Killarney National Park, Co Kerry
Lough Gur, Co Limerick
MacCarthy Castles, Munster
North West Mayo Boglands
Rinn Dúin, Co Roscommon
The Shannon Corridor
Cork Harbour, including the River Lee to Cork City Centre
The Military Fortifications of the South Coast of Cork
Tory Island, Co Donegal
Valentia Tetrapod Trackway, Co Kerry
Additionally, an application on behalf of the Boyne Valley was excluded as it was already in the buffer zone of another World Heritage Site. The Walled City of Derry, which was also submitted for consideration, is not located within the administrative area of the responsible authority for World Heritage within the State (i.e. my Department) and, unlike Navan Fort in Co Armagh, one of the sites that forms the Royal Sites grouping, Derry was not seen as a potential component of a serial nomination.