Vol. 540 No. 1
394 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the meetings she has held or those planned with the National Roads Authority to deal with the protection of historical and archaeological places and sites during the construction of motorways and dual carriageways; the criteria or guidelines which her Department has in relation to such developments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19880/01]
My Department has maintained regular contact with the National Roads Authority leading up to, and since the agreement with, the authority in July 2000 of a code of practice.
This code is intended to form the basis of a framework within which the NRA will be able to get on with its programme of work whilst carrying out appropriate mitigation of impacts on the archaeological heritage. The code is based on a set of agreed principles and actions and will be supplemented with further guidelines from my Department. The code demonstrates the NRA's commitment to a responsible approach to the protection of the archaeological heritage. In doing so, the NRA is showing the way forward for other developers and hopefully this code will serve as a model for similar codes with other development sectors with whom discussions are already ongoing.
I am pleased to be able to inform the Deputy that the NRA has already signalled their very real commitment to the code by appointing their own team of project archaeologists to the various road schemes around the country. This cadre of archaeologists represents the largest body of archaeological expertise outside of my Department and, over all, I am satisfied that the code of practice, which aims to address the impacts of road development on the archaeological heritage, is operating effectively.
Meetings are held relating to individual road projects as issues arise.
