Study to probe condition of national monuments

A NEW project aims to study how many of Ireland’s 150,000 precious national monuments have been destroyed or damaged.

Archaeological features such as ring forts, stone circles and megalithic tombs contain valuable information about the country’s heritage.

However, some monuments are damaged by livestock, adverse weather conditions or heavy machinery used by farmers and builders. An ambitious National Monitoring Programme aims to examine the condition of up to 150,000 monuments in the country beginning with a pilot project of 2,000 recorded features in counties Clare, Roscommon and Waterford. The Department of Environment and Heritage today put out tenders for the work.

A team of archaeologists will be expected to compile a report on each monument in the three counties and assess the future risk to its survival.

“Ireland’s remarkable heritage has come under increasing threat in the past couple of decades and many fine monuments — which contain valuable information about the past — have been destroyed or badly damaged,” a department spokesperson said.

“Protection of heritage requires careful and balanced strategies that must be informed by reliable and up-to-date information,” the spokesperson continued.

The Government’s National Heritage Plan, which was published in 2002, said the establishment of an enhanced monitoring programme was essential.

Recent information campaigns have tried to assist farmers and builders to recognise monuments so they don’t unwittingly damage them with heavy machinery.

The last examination of monuments was the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) across the state in 1998.