New legal regime for our heritage
The constitutionality of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004 has been upheld by the court and a new statutory regime for Irish archaeology begins.
As the representative body for Irish archaeologists we welcome some aspects of the new legislation. For instance, it seeks to resolve the recurring conflicts between monuments legislation and development needs in a way that considers public interest in the broadest possible terms.
It also strengthens the protection of archaeological sites of national importance newly discovered on national road schemes - like the Viking settlement at Woodstown on the new N25 route - by providing for an extraordinary ‘mini’ environmental impact statement (EIS) for such sites, even after the rest of the scheme has been approved.
On the other hand, we have misgivings about some elements of the act.
It reserves to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government extraordinary powers to instruct the investigation or demolition of a national monument, stayed only by a period of two weeks for consultation with the director of the National Museum. This is too short a period and other statutory bodies should be included in the consultation process.
Also, the act does nothing to clarify the current vague definitions of a ‘national monument’ in our existing legislation and policy documents.
Attributing more or less significance to different sorts of archaeological sites in the EIS is a vexed area that demands early and clear thinking from the state. Here we would welcome a guidance note from the minister for archaeologists and developers alike. Finally, the new act does away with the requirement to procure an archaeological excavation licence for investigations that form part of a major road scheme approved by An Bord Pleanála (ie, for archaeological investigations that are recommended in the EIS for such a scheme).
This will certainly do away with a layer of bureaucracy that was onerous both for the state and the excavating archaeologist, as a single road scheme can involve numerous minor investigations, all subject to individual licence applications.
Sadly, however, it also does away with a simple mechanism by which the National Monuments Service could maintain a register of all excavations conducted in the state and thus monitor the progress of these excavations through the various stages of fieldwork, analysis, reporting and publication.
This register has been maintained since 1930. It is an important part of the public record of Irish archaeological work that has now been truncated with respect to investigations on major road schemes.
In the long term, we may all reflect that this is the fourth amendment to the parent Act of 1930. Evidently, heritage protection is an evolving process and not a set of commandments brought down from the summit of Mount Sinai.
We hope it can be a consensual process, too. The Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland is keen to participate in this process and to discuss any developments in national legislation and policy with the minister and his representatives.
Eoin Halpin
Chairman
Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland
63 Merrion Square
Dublin 2
