Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 2 Mar 1995

Vol. 450 No. 1

Written Answers. - Archaeological Funding.

Séamus Hughes

Ceist:

25 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the financial assistance made available from the year 1992 to local authorities specifically for the purpose of funding archaeological excavation and past excavation programmes. [2113/95]

Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Mr. M. Higgins)

The National Heritage Council has the task of distributing national lottery funds to heritage projects including archaeological research. It is the council's policy to ensure that reports on excavations are published and, therefore, it concentrates its funding for archaeology on post-excavation research and analysis rather than on archaeological excavations.

In the case of archaeological projects funded by the council, payments are generally made in instalments on foot of progress reports which must be made by the archaeologist in charge. In the case of post-excavation work the council will usually agree to releases a portion of the funding in advance.

The following amounts have been paid to local authorities since 1 January 1992: Waterford Corporation, £72,000; Limerick Corporation, £70,000; Mayo County Council, £10,000.