Under section 135, special protection is deemed to apply to wrecks 100 years old or more. Dáil amendment No. 127 also applies special protection to registered and prescribed monuments situated on, in or under land covered by water. This will ensure that section 135 better relates to section 136 in the context of the activities that are prohibited at registered and prescribed monuments situated underwater. Dáil amendment No. 129 replicates section 26(2) to avoid situations where another licensing authority would be …

Dáil amendment No. 130 inserts “immediate surroundings” into section 148(1)(e). The effect is that the unauthorised possession of detection device in, at, on, over, above, or within the immediate surroundings of a registered monument of a wreck one hundred or more years old, will be an offence. This will assist enforcement and strengthen the application of subsection (1)(e). Dáil amendment No. 131 provides that warnings relating to the use and possession of a detection device in the State will be in both Irish and …

This group of amendments covers several matters relating to licences issued under section 151 of the Bill. Examples of these amendments include: technical amendments relating to the granting of, or a refusal to grant, individual licensable activities as part of a licence application; amendments relating to conditions that may be attached to a licence; provision that further licensable activities that may be required as a condition of a licence will not be exempted from requiring a licence; provision for refusal to …

I believe that the proposed amendment to the Bill as it stands following Dáil amendment No. 143 would likely be counterproductive. This is because the text proposed to be inserted could be construed as limiting the circumstances in which non-compliance with a previous licence could warrant refusal of a further licence. It might be argued that it was necessary to demonstrate destruction or significant alteration of an archaeological object or monument before refusal was warranted. Serious non-compliance with a licen…

Section 152 is a major addition to the legal mechanisms for ensuring that works and activities regulated under the legislation are carried out to the appropriate standard. It enables a licensing authority to require an applicant to have his or her competence assessed through procedures set out in regulations. This is especially relevant to ensuring that specialist activities such as archaeological excavation are only carried out by properly skilled practitioners. Amendments were made in the Dáil to ensure that asse…

Dáil amendment No. 154 was introduced following an initial amendment brought about as a result of concerns raised in the Seanad as to whether there was sufficient provision in the Bill to ensure that statutory local authority development plans under the Planning and Development Act 2000 would take sufficient account of the register of monuments. Following a review of section 167, I revised it fully. Dáil amendment No. 154 ensures that guidance issued under it to local authorities, including in relation to mandatory…

The power conferred by section 167 on the Minister of the day to issue statutory guidelines to local authorities, which they will be bound to have regard to in the exercise of their functions under any legislation, is far-reaching. It may have significant implications for a wide range of stakeholders, not just experts in the various aspects of heritage. Local communities, members of the farming community and other occupiers of land, NGOs, other Departments and public authorities and a range of other individuals and…

Dáil amendments Nos. 155 and 156 delete the term “relevant thing” from section 173 and replace it with the term “relevant item” instead. This amendment was made to avoid potential confusion with the key definition “relevant thing” used elsewhere throughout the Bill and assigned a different meaning.

This group contains an important amendment that I would like to comment upon. Dáil amendment No. 160 revises section 175(18) to significantly strengthen and widen the principle set out in the provision as it currently stands. It makes it clear that in a prosecution for an offence arising from a breach of the sections relating to general and special protection - sections 27 and 30, respectively - it is not necessary for it to be proven that the accused knew that the relevant thing of relevant interest that is the su…

Dáil amendment No. 164 provides for the erection and removal of signs at monuments. These signs may be to inform members of the public of their responsibilities at monuments or to provide explanatory and interpretive information for a given monument. An important part of this provision makes it clear that if a person is charged with an offence under the enacted Bill, it will not be a defence for the person to prove that at the time the offence was committed, the monument was not the subject of a sign under this pro…

For the purposes of the protection and proper management of historic heritage, Dáil amendments Nos. 170 and 171 include Tailte Éireann and any authority in another state that has responsibilities as regards historic heritage to the list of bodies under section 215. Section 221 lists the ways by which a notice may be given to a person, for example, by delivering it in person or by registered post. Dáil amendment No. 172 ensures that a notice may be given in more than one way.

Dáil amendment No. 173 is primarily a result of discussions that took place earlier in the year in the Seanad. It will require a report to issue within three years of the Bill’s enactment on the operation and implementation of the Bill with regular reports issuing every five years thereafter. Copies of the report will be laid before the Houses and published on my Department’s website.

I consider this amendment to be unnecessary and it is ambiguous in its language and intent. For example, what exactly does making oneself available involve in a strictly legal context? What has been proposed here is simply not workable. I am sure the Minister of the day will be more than happy to discuss the operation of the enacted Bill with all interested parties and especially with any relevant Oireachtas committee. Given this, I cannot accept the amendment.

Dáil amendment No. 175 relates to section 41(6) of the Bill and section 4(4) of the Environmental (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011, and has been introduced to ensure the necessary cost protection provisions work as intended. In summary, it will mean that the cost protection afforded under section 3 of the Environmental (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 will apply to legal proceedings relating to a licence granted under section 151 of the enacted Bill.

Again, I recall that debate with Deputy O'Callaghan. I reiterate that the amendments made to the Bill relating to JR and cost protection follow advice from the senior advisory counsel of the Office of the Attorney General. I will make the following points on the proposed amendments to the Bill, as it currently stands, following Dáil amendment No. 173. Section 151 is the only provision that provides for the granting of a licence to carry out works to a monument or other licensable activities. For this reason I canno…

Dáil Amendment No. 176 inserts a new section 239, amending section 1(e) of the Foreshore Act 1933. It is intended to provide a pathway for existing foreshore applications, received by the Minister under the Foreshore Act 1933, to move to the new regulatory system in the interests of maximising the opportunities available in the more modern consenting structures provided in the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021. Under the new provisions proposed in this amendment, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, may, at …

The effect of the amendments proposed by the Senators would be to provide that MARA must publish any determination under the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 as if it had been made by MARA and that any application for JR of such determination shall run from the date of such publication. In addition, it is proposed that application for leave to apply for JR of the determination could be made up to three months after publication by MARA. The amendments are unnecessary, as it has alre…

Dáil Amendment No. 177 amends the Lough Corrib Navigation Act 1945 by the insertion of two new sections into that Act relating to the Lough Corrib navigation trustees. The trustees were established under the Drainage (Ireland) Act 1856 for the purpose of managing the Lough Corrib navigation. They consist of eight councillors drawn from Galway City Council, Galway County Council and Mayo County Council, who are supported by those councils in their work. They are responsible for the maintenance of navigation aids and…

Amendments Nos. 178 to 185, inclusive, are amendments to the Planning and Development Act 2000. Regarding amendments Nos. 178 and 179, following commencement of Part 8 of and Schedule 12 to the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 in October 2022, a potential technical requirement has arisen for an additional planning permission for projects in the maritime area that already have the previously required consents in place, both in Ireland and, in the case of certain cables, in other jurisdictions. These amendments addres…

The Senators are suggesting that we either remove or qualify Dáil amendment 179, thereby limiting its application. This would leave in place on the Statute Book a legal anomaly requiring a double development consent under two separate provisions and tie up resources on the applicant’s and the State’s side in processing unnecessary applications. In regard to Dáil amendment No. 180 which provides a new section 243, the effect of the amendments proposed by the Senators would be to not disapply the requirement for a MA…