Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 October 2019
284. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if there are plans to designate An Sruthán Pier, Carraroe, County Galway as a cultural heritage asset; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41592/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy role, as Minister, with regard to the protection and management of our built heritage is set out in the provisions of relevant legislation, as are the roles of local authorities and the responsibilities of owners.
Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides for the protection of architectural heritage. The Act gives primary responsibility to planning authorities to identify and protect the architectural heritage by including relevant structures on the Record of Protected Structures (RPS). Inclusion on the RPS places a duty of care on the owners and occupiers of protected structures and also gives planning authorities powers to deal with development proposals affecting them and to seek to safeguard their future.
While there is no provision or process to designate a cultural heritage asset, as the Deputy suggests, my Department maintains the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), a State initiative to identify, record, and evaluate the post-1700 architectural heritage, uniformly and consistently, as an aid in the protection and conservation of the built heritage. Based on this survey, I recommend structures rated as being of regional importance or above to the planning authorities for inclusion on the RPS.
The NIAH surveys are intended to be representative of structures surveyed in a particular area and are not comprehensive. In this regard, the NIAH survey for County Galway included eleven piers, which would have been part of the Ministerial Recommendations to the Council for inclusion on their RPS. While An Sruthán pier was not included in the NIAH survey it remains the case that the making of an addition to, or a deletion from, the RPS for County Galway is a reserved function of Galway County Council.
In addition, under the provisions of the National Monuments Acts 1930-2014, my Department maintains the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP), which affords legal protection to over 120,000 recorded archaeological sites and monuments in the State. Anyone proposing works to a monument that is recorded must give my Department two months notice before works can start. I understand that An Sruthán pier is not on the RMP, however the National Monuments Service of my Department is currently investigating whether there are sites in the vicinity of the pier which may be of archaeological interest.
