Vol. 436 No. 4
75 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he will give a list of all archaeological excavations undertaken under licence from the State in the past thirty years in respect of which the statutorily required report has not yet been lodged with the Office of Public Works; the amount of State financial assistance given to each such excavation; and the name of the archaeologist involved.
Within the past 30 years some 1,100 archaeological excavations licences have been granted by the Commissioners of Public Works, under the National Monuments Acts. At present, a major exercise is being undertaken by the Commissioners to computerise the records of some 1,500 licences, which have been granted since the enactment of the initial legislation in 1930. On completion of this exercise, towards the latter end of 1994, it will be possible to detail outstanding excavation reports and the archaeologists concerned.
At present, details are not readily available as to which excavations were in receipt of Exchequer funding, but the proportion of such excavations is likely to be relatively small.
