Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 15 Mar 1995

Vol. 450 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - Boyne Valley Visitor Centre.

Mr. Dempsey

May I avail of this opportunity to congratulate the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Michael Higgins, on his reappointment and wish him well in his ministerial tasks.

Obviously this issue is of great importance to the people of County Meath and to many others — conservationists and all with an interest in and a love of our heritage.

Since it is he who will be replying to this debate, will the Minister confirm that that is an indication that the future of the Boyne Valley and Mullaghmore Centres are a matter of Government policy? If that is the case, I might point out that the decision in relation to the centre in the Boyne Valley has already been made by two successive Governments, one of which has been the subject of the widest possible consultation process, warmly welcomed by the general public in the Meath area and wider afield, a process in which I was directly involved when various groups, those in favour and against — opinion was divided — participated.

I have stressed the need for an urgent decision to prevent any further wastage of taxpayers' money which is now becoming a cause of scandal. The total cost of the Boyne Valley site and the provision of the centre erected there so far is approximately £1.7 million, excluding legal costs. To allow the eyesore remain and to provide security and insurance cover for it costs £5,000 per month.

The Minister will be aware that the total cost of the site on which work stopped in February 1993 is more than £114,620 and the maintenance of the site costs the taxpayer a further £5,000 per month. There is no valid reason for not proceeding with the works in the Boyne Valley. It has gone through the consultation process and those who opposed it made a number of remarks about that process, but it was a consultation process and everybody got a chance to contribute. I listened carefully to those contributions, revised the plans for the centre and put them before Meath County Council. Meath County Council put the plans for the centre through the full planning process, and they were then passed to An Bord Pleanála. They have been fully discussed from the environmental, conservation and planning points of view and are awaiting a Government decision.

There is no valid reason for not proceeding with the works; the opposite is the case and I am sure the Minister will accept that. On the grounds of conservation and preservation the centre is urgently needed to cater for the 150,000 visitors annually who travel to Newgrange, a number which I believe will steadily increase during the next number of years, particularly as it was declared a world heritage site last year. The increase may be spectacular. It is only because the Office of Public Works is not currently advertising Newgrange as a visitor centre that the figures are not higher.

The centre is necessary for the proper management of the entire site not only Newgrange but Knowth and Dowth and all that archaeological area. It is absolutely necessary that a decision be made on that centre immediately rather than allow it to drag on.

On financial grounds it would be nonsensical to reverse the decisions made. Figures I received when I was Minister of State revealed that if the project were to be stopped it would cost the taxpayer more than if it were completed. However, that is not a reason for proceeding with the centre and it was not one of the reasons that influenced my decision. That site was chosen on purely crowd management and conservation grounds. I am sure the Minister who has had an opportunity to study this was aware of this during the consultation process and will agree it is reasonable that the centre should proceed.

When I announced a decision on the three visitor centres I stated that they would go through the full planning process at county council level and the plans would be sent to An Bord Pleanála. The plans for the Boyne Valley Centre went to An Bord Pleanála and were accepted. I said I would accept the results of that process, and others should do likewise. The Minister should accept them and proceed with the centre.

I do not believe the Boyne Valley Centre should be tied to any other centre. It stands on its own merit and any decision should bear that in mind. If there are difficulties in relation to other centres or if the Minister has a particular difficulty with Mullaghmore, that is no reason to delay a decision on the Boyne Valley Centre. I urge him to make a quick decision for the sake of our heritage and on the grounds of common sense. Taxpayers should not have to fork out £5,000 monthly for a project which should be proceeding.

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

I am grateful to Deputy Dempsey for raising this issue and thank him for his kind remarks on my reappointment to the Ministry for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

There have been slight changes in the arrangement under the current Administration. I am not now the Minister with responsibility for future policy in relation to matters of heritage, as was the case previously but, since a Government decision by way of statutory instrument has transferred functions previously held by the Minister for Finance to me, I take responsibility for this area. The Deputy will be aware also that the Programme for Government makes an explicit reference to this and related matters.

The policy agreement between the three parties forming the present Government states that "The future of the proposed Interpretative Centres at Mullaghmore, Luggala and the Boyne Valley will be a decision by the incoming Government". Immediately following the formation of the present Government I initiated a review of each of the three cases. I recently completed this exercise, have now brought proposals to Government and I expect that a decision will be made in the next few weeks.

I reject the Deputy's suggestion that there has been a waste of taxpayers' money because of indecision on the part of the Government. As he said, the previous Government authorised him, when he was Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, to come to a decision in this matter following a process of public consultation and subject to planning permission being obtained. I understand that these requirements had been met by 31 August 1994 when An Bord Pleanála upheld Meath County Council's decision on the matter. However, when the Deputy left office three and a half months later he had still not made a final decision in the matter.

Mr. Dempsey

That is not true. A court decision was made to start work on 1 February.

Mr. M. Higgins

Perhaps that was one of the illustrated advantages of the present arrangement as opposed to the other one. The Deputy will be aware that there were occasional communication difficulties.

Mr. Dempsey

There still appear to be some.

Mr. M. Higgins

I, of course, understand the complexities of these cases and appreciate that the Deputy was wise not to rush into a decision. I hope he would equally appreciate the need for the present Government to give carefully consideration to the issues involved before coming to its decision.

These three projects at Mullaghmore, Luggala and the Boyne have been the centre of controversy for about five years now and have been intensely divisive of the communities in which they are located. Many wish that divisiveness could have been avoided. It has always been my aim to try to heal these divisions and to work towards consensus, and it is worth while spending a few weeks to ensure that the best decisions are now made in the circumstances. I understand that the direct additional costs in the case of the Boyne Valley site amount to £5,000 per month for security, but this is infinitesmal compared to the costs that have already arisen from the manner in which these projects were handled in the past.

I appreciate the Deputy's concern for the world heritage site in the Boyne Valley. I do not see what effect a few weeks' delay in reaching a decision in regard to the visitor centre there could have. I am satisfied that a decision made in a calm and deliberate manner is more likely to redound to the benefit of this important site in the long term.

Regarding some of the points made by the Deputy, I will give him further information. I hope I have clarified the role of the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in relation to these matters. There is no point looking back, but it may clarify who has responsibility for making recommendations. I agree this is an issue of great importance. We must be careful about what we mean by "consultation". I am sure that much of the divisiveness to which I referred could have been avoided if there had been a consultation process in respect of some of the other sites.

I assure the House that I do not have any personal difficulty with any of the three sites. My only concern is to bring about a resolution that hopefully will bring together communities which were previously divided. In that spirit I agree with the Deputy that the three sites covered by the Government decision differ in levels of complexity. The one he mentioned is probably easier in terms of the matters to be resolved. We must remember that in the five years I mentioned a decision has been taken by the High Court and by the planning authorities in this area.

If we are to resolve it and secure a consensus it will not be by threatening the public in terms of how much was spent. This automatically provokes the question: why was the money spent so precipitously and could much of the conflict have been avoided? This is precisely the territory we want to avoid. We are talking in terms of a number of weeks before the Government arrives at a decision on the basis of recommendations I have already made to it.