I welcome the opportunity to raise this important and pressing matter. On Tuesday, 16 December I tabled a question to the Minister for Finance asking the proposals, if any, he had to refurbish and make safe the ruined church at Faithlegg, County Waterford. His reply indicated that this was a matter for his colleague, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. The reply went on to state that the ruined church was not in State ownership or guardianship and that, consequently, carrying out works there was not a matter for the national monuments and historic properties service of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.
I then tabled a question to the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands in which I asked her to take the ruined church at Faithlegg into State ownership or guardianship and to carry out the necessary refurbishment in view of the historical importance of the church as well as the safety of the public. The Minister replied that recognition and legal protection had been afforded to the ruins of the church and the adjoining graveyard pursuant to the provisions of section 12 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1994, and, as a consequence, any person proposing to carry out any work at or in relation to the monument must give notice of such intention and shall not commence the work for a period of two months after having given such notice. She went on to say that having regard to the current extensive level of commitments in the region in question, Dúchas, the heritage service of the Department, was unable to take the ruined church at Faithlegg into State care and that when resources permitted the matter would be carefully reconsidered.
Her response was totally unsatisfactory and inadequate. Apart from the historical and architectural importance of the ruined church, there is considerable concern regarding its safety given that it is situated adjacent to the Catholic church and within the local graveyard. Brother Laurence O'Toole described it as a well preserved ruin of a good sized architecturally satisfying old church, side by side with the parish church. All the evidence points to the late 14th and early 15th century as the date of construction of the ruined church. It is, therefore, pre-Reformation and would have been used for Catholic worship right up to the time of Cromwellian forfeiture of the Faithlegg property. After this it gradually fell into ruin.
The ruined Faithlegg church has been described by the Office of Public Works as follows:
The building warrants preservation and a conservation project should be undertaken before deterioration and masonry collapse, especially in the sacristy, make the task all the more difficult and expensive. Initially the structure should be liberally sprayed with a weed killer solution to kill the vegetation and the vegetation allowed to decay before removal so as not to destroy masonry.
The ivy has been removed from the ruin and it has been put strongly to me that this has caused the ruin to become unsafe. I put it to the Minister in the strongest terms that her decision to stand idly by in relation to this important national monument is not good enough from a safety or heritage point of view. She must take responsibility for the matter and have the necessary works carried out.
