My Department is already familiar with the problems besetting stone monuments and is conversant with the issues raised in the Heritage Council report. No formal meetings have taken place between the Heritage Council and my Department for the specific purpose of discussing this report but I would expect that the topic would be aired when my officials next meet with representatives of the council.
The Deputies may be aware that I have previously stated that the report needs to be put in context. For example, stone monuments are, by their nature, largely ruinous and, in most cases, have been in decay for many hundreds of years; this is an inherited problem and even with best conservation practice, which is slow and painstaking by its nature, the problems will not be remedied overnight; the rate of decay relates to the type of stone used in the construction so that, for example, soft sandstone monuments are more affected than limestone monuments and this is particularly true in the case of the finer carved detailing on many of the sites assessed in the report; intensive damage is often caused by higher vegetal species such as ivy and trees but the remedy does not require costly specialist interventions; and finally, the report assesses only 112 monuments but there are over 120,000 monuments in the State of which 740 are in State care.
The Deputies will be aware that in November last year I announced a major investment of over £100 million in the built heritage under the national development plan which included an unprecedented level of commitment to the conservation of national monuments in the care of the State. Given the above context I emphasise that the State, through Dúchas, the heritage service of my Department, has been to the fore in stone conservation practice in caring for the 740 monuments in State ownership. I have also supplemented this direct investment with a new apprenticeship programme. This will widen the skills base available in my Department and help to ensure that there is a continuation of the skills necessary to carrying out a successful conservation programme.
I was also pleased to be able to provide an additional £500,000 to the Heritage Council in this year's Revised Estimates, thereby enabling the council to allocate £1.25 million in 2001 to its buildings at risk programme.
I have no plans to extend public ownership of monuments. In 1999, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, or NIAH, was formally established in my Department following the enactment of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1999. The aim of the NIAH is to identify, record and evaluate the architecture of Ireland in a systematic and uniform manner.
It has always been my position that successful protection of the built heritage cannot be achieved through the State services alone. While much has been done in recent years with the introduction of new measures to protect our buildings of value, through a scheme of grants and provision of expertise at local authority level, it is up to everyone – the State, property owners, developers and the experts – to play their part.
I am heartened by what I see in the private sector when it comes to conservation and in this particular instance, stone conservation. There is now a proliferation of specialist firms and individuals operating in this area with the result that the fabric of many of our fine buildings, including the likes of churches and Georgian buildings, are being conserved.