asked the Minister for Finance what plans the Office of Public Works have for the preservation and restoration of King John's Castle, Trim, County Meath; and when these plans are to be implemented.
64.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Preservation of Meath Castle.
63.
asked the Minister for Finance if it is proposed to commence work on King John's Castle, Trim, County Meath in the next financial year; if so, what allocation of money has been made to do this work; and if not, when it is considered work can be commenced.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 63 and 64 together.
As a preliminary to a scheme of preservation works, it will be necessary to have an archaeological excavation carried out at this national monument and it may be possible to put the preliminary work in hands during the next financial year. When the archaeological excavation has been completed Trim Castle will be considered with other projects when preparing future programmes of preservation works to national monuments, but it is not possible at this stage to say when it is likely to be reached.
The National Monuments Acts, 1930 and 1954 do not empower the Office of Public Works to undertake restoration works.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary not aware that his predecessor promised two years ago that something would be done? In fact, some preliminary work was done and then abandoned. Would the Parliamentary Secretary say if there are any definite plans—it is not just a matter of excavation work—to make a start on this? Would the Parliamentary Secretary be prepared to indicate the position one way or the other as there is no point in continuing saying that something may be done. They have heard that too often.
Trim Castle is regarded as the finest, largest and best preserved Norman castle in the country. In 1966 the Office of Public Works took it in charge. Our biggest difficulty is in obtaining the necessary technical skilled staff. At the rate we are progressing with our archaeological surveys now we will not complete the 26 Counties for 70 or 80 years. However, we are taking on extra staff at the moment and we are hoping it may be possible to include Trim Castle in the next financial year.
Trim Castle was supposed to have priority over Kilkenny Castle. However, the Parliamentary Secretary at the time was a Kilkenny man and, therefore, Kilkenny Castle was done. I know there are no castles in Ballyfermot——
There is Drimnagh Castle.
That is not in Ballyfermot. Is there any danger someone else might come along from some other county with a castle to restore?
Would the Parliamentary Secretary state if Trim Castle is included in the priority list drawn up by the Board of Works for restoration purposes and would he further state if any investigation has been carried out on the structure of the castle to ensure that it does not reach a level of deterioration in the very near future which would prevent adequate restoration taking place?
Under Vote No. 8 there is a gross figure allocated for this sort of survey work. It is not specifically for this job or that job. It is a gross amount and we have to decide how best we can spend this money. I am pleased to say that the allocation of money under this Vote has been increasing over the last few years and I hope it will be increased further in the coming financial year. The conservation work on Trim Castle will take ten years to complete. I hope very shortly to have an archaeologist allocated to Trim Castle and if we can do that I would say we would start work this year.
Will the promise of the Parliamentary Secretary's predecessor be carried out?
We are very hopeful we can start work on it this year.