Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 January 2019
698. Deputy Catherine Martin asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the last survey of archaeological monuments was conducted after a survey (details supplied); the names of subsequent reports; when an updated study will be conducted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2580/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Archaeological Survey of Ireland within my Department’s National Monuments Service (NMS) maps and updates the data on our archaeological resources on an ongoing basis. Information on over 140,000 monuments across the country is currently stored in the Department's Sites and Monuments Record. NMS is assisted in this task by, inter alia, members of the public and the third-level education sector who provide notifications of potential new archaeological sites. The content of the Sites and Monuments Record is presented digitally, and is available to the public, through the Historic Environment Viewer, maintained by NMS. Monuments on the Sites and Monuments Record are also featured in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's LPIS and IFORIS land mapping systems and are part of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions requirements of the Common Agricultural Policy. In this way up to date information on all known archaeological sites and monuments, including new discoveries, is widely available and readily accessible to all interested parties.
The Record of Monuments and Places compiled under the National Monuments Acts affords automatic statutory protection to over 120,000 recorded archaeological sites and monuments in the State. Anyone proposing works in relation to a monument that is included in the Record of Monument and Places must give my Department two months’ advance notice of such work. The Acts also allow me to place a Preservation Order on any other important archaeological sites or monuments that may be at risk, including mew discoveries. My Department records and investigates all reports of damage or threats to archaeological features, including referring them to an Garda Síochána for investigation and prosecution where appropriate.
Archaeological excavations are regulated under section 26 of the National Monuments Act 1930, as amended. All excavation licences are issued on the basis that the investigations are for the purpose of searching for archaeological features and to provide for their subsequent recording or protection. A standard licence condition requires a report to be submitted to my Department on the results of each investigation.
My Department also liaises regularly with the utility and infrastructure providers and has agreed codes of practice in place with a number of these agencies, including Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Bord na Móna and ESB Networks, aimed at safeguarding archaeological sites and monuments. In addition, there are programmes with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Teagasc and farm organisations with the aim of raising archaeological awareness within the farming community which is the principal custodian of our archaeological heritage.
