I do not propose to extend the consultation requirements beyond what is being introduced in the aftermath of the pre-legislative scrutiny recommendations. Under the National Monuments Act, consultation has always been with a statutory advisory council and this should remain the position under the Bill. If the requirement to do so arises, and that is certainly not a given, I have every confidence in the Heritage Council and its ability to carry out its role in this regard effectively. If Senator Boyhan considers it …

Under section 167, guidelines can be issued to local authorities in respect of their dealings with historic heritage in the course of the performance of their functions. Many local authorities already list monuments on the maps attached to their development plans, as Senator Boyhan has shown. I can offer a commitment today that guidelines issued to local authorities will include a recommendation that registered monuments are to feature on development plan maps. I will also request that the departmental officials co…

Under section 211, provisions have been introduced which enable the Minister to set out the manner in which functions under the Bill are to be performed and to provide practical guidance on how to comply with any provision of the enacted Bill. These codes of practice will be established following consultation and after consideration of representations received as part of that consultation. The codes will be formal documents published in Iris Oifigiúil and available on the Department's website. This is a more approp…

Sections 41 and 42 are important provisions relating to judicial review and efforts have been made to align the relevant provisions of the Bill to those already in law. Subsection (2) provides that the validity of an act done in performance of a function under Chapter 6 or the validity of a licence granted in relation to a matter in Chapter 6 for which an environmental impact assessment or appropriate assessment is required is questioned by way of judicial review. This will not prevent judicial reviews of other pro…

This amendment was suggested in observations received from the Minister for Transport, who advised that a harbour authority no longer exists as a statutory entity and the Harbour Acts of 1946 to 2005 were repealed in respect of each of the State commercial port companies upon their establishment as a company.

Chapter 11 of Part 2 of the Bill provides for several transitional provisions relating to the transfer of a wide range of monuments from ownership arrangements under the existing enactments to those established under the Bill. On review, it has been noted that section 62 is not a transitional provision and in order to ensure that its applicability is not somehow limited, it is proposed to move section 62 under its own chapter.

The amendments are introduced to avoid problems relating to monument ownership, and so that the term “ownership” as used in Chapter 15 of Part 2 of the Bill is construed to include any right, title, or interest acquired pursuant to subsection (3) of section 51. This will provide the Minister and local authorities with flexibility about the arrangements they can enter into in order to establish monuments as national monuments in their ownership. It will also remove any risk that the generally applicable definition o…

It has been put into the Bill in case a situation arises where a Minister and local authority are both considered owners of a monument. There might be circumstances where a monument owned by the Minister is leased to a local authority. That is where the issue of ownership could arise. It is unlikely, but it is important to have a provision in the Bill for that eventuality. The ownership issue then determines a range of subsequent requirements and obligations in terms of maintenance and day-to-day management of a mo…

It is important.

I would agree in the sense that it is important to have better clarity around that. Generally, local agreements on maintenance and upkeep of day-to-day management issues can be resolved at a local level. I note and take on board the points the Senator made on that issue.

The Bill provides for consultation with members of the public regarding the nomination of world heritage property in the State. Current best practice, as set out in the strategic objectives of the World Heritage Committee and the 2021 operational guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, calls for the participation of a wide variety of stakeholders in the management and protection of world heritage properties. This amendment provides for consultation on existing world heritage properties. …

Absolutely. We would be more than happy to provide a briefing document to Members on the tentative list. Absolutely. Amendment agreed to.

Under section 104 of the Bill, the board of the National Museum may designate a site where an archaeological object may be placed for safekeeping. While the period that an object could be stored was originally set at 12 months, it has been determined that there are practical reasons why certain objects may need to remain in storage for a longer period. For example, waterlogged wood from the sea or inland waterways usually needs to remain fully submerged pending conservation works and these works may take longer tha…

Pre-existing internal safeguards within the museum control the approval of reward amounts to finders of archaeological objects. Rewards are proposed by a relevant curator and the archaeologist dealing with the acquisition of the object. The awards are then subject to approval by the keeper of Irish antiquities. For rewards valued above €10,000, the keeper must in turn seek approval from the head of collections or from the director of the museum. In each instance, a written justification of the amount of the finder’…

This amendment updates the list of objects the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media must have regard to when prescribing classes of objects for the purposes of the 1970 UNESCO convention. This is to ensure that the most recent European legislation relating to the cultural goods is taken into consideration.

The amendment to subsection (1)(d) is proposed in order to clarify that conducting underwater searches for a relevant thing of archaeological interest that is not a prescribed monument is a licensable activity. This is to avoid a situation where a person might argue that unauthorised underwater searches for relevant things of archaeological interest that are not prescribed monuments are permitted under law. Similarly, the purpose of the amendment to subsection (1)(f) is to avoid a situation where a person might arg…

These technical amendments provide that contraventions of all offences relating to archaeological objects under Part 4 can be subject to enforcement notices issued by the National Museum of Ireland. They also correct a drafting issue in section 159 whereby a reference to “subsection 3” is updated to read “this subsection”.

I join the Leas-Chathaoirleach in welcoming our visitors, as one of the male, pale and stale men in the Chamber.

While I acknowledge the need to review and monitor the functioning of new legislation, measures are already in place that provide for what is set out by the Senator in the proposed amendment. My understanding is that the post-enactment scrutiny process requires a report on the functioning of recently enacted Bills to be laid in the parliamentary library for 12 months after their enactment. Under the built and archaeological heritage climate change sectoral adaptation plan, written reports are to be presented to the…

I thank the Senator and I absolutely recognise the aspirations behind this amendment. I referenced the climate change sectoral adaptation plan which is a really excellent plan. I will put a copy of it in the Senator's pigeon hole in the next day or two because it is well worth having a look at. It deals with exactly the issues the Senator has raised here in terms of embodied carbon and the protection and conservation of our natural archaeological heritage. I am familiar with the work of ICOMOS and Mr. Andrew Cox. W…