Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Dr. Moloney and Ms Teehan to the committee. They both have fantastic jobs; I would love either of them. Heritage is a great thing. I acknowledge Dr. Moloney's vast experience of local government. I have come across her in many guises. Sometimes she has not seen me watching her, but at other times we have encountered each other and chatted. She has an amazing track record; it is important that I share that with the committee. I spoke to staff on a number of councils in County Galway who speak very highly of her, as do members of the County and City Management Association. The committee knows her from National Oversight and Audit Commission; I do not see that on her CV but she came before us previously. She is steeped in local government, which is an important facet in how we address heritage because it overlays so much, which is very important. I also wish Ms Teehan every success.

The Heritage Council is a wonderful organisation. Somehow people think it is some sort of elitist group and do not quite understand its governance. There is a little work to be done in explaining the governance of the Heritage Council and that it is there to help and support people. If I was to ask the representatives to take away anything from today's proceedings, it would be that I would like to see an overarching and very much stronger policy emerge from the Heritage Council. As has been said already, there are 31 heritage officers in local authorities. We may not have the full number of conservation officers, although their roles overlap with those of heritage officers and arts officers. One of the great things is that we have built heritage and national heritage. I am particularly interested in environmental heritage and heritage gardens. I studied horticulture and worked in the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin, in addition to those in London, Canada and Greece. I have a major interest in travelling and seeing heritage gardens. One of the first things I look at everywhere I go are unique heritage buildings, especially heritage gardens. It is a real thing in terms of the overlap with Fáilte Ireland. That is important.

We have local authority staff but they are not Heritage Council staff. I imagine that now that transition funding has gone straight over, heritage officers are fully funded by local authorities and they come under pressure there. They work closely with the planning authorities. We know that each of the authorities have their city and county development plans. My council unanimously supported me on both buildings I suggested being listed as protected structures, but I had great difficulty in convincing and encountered resistance from the establishment, that is, the council executive. There was a view that if we are pushing for protected structures we are in some way dulling down the potential for development when we can have both. That is something we need to get across.

It is very important that we look at the Heritage Council plan. Its corporate plan finishes this year. I went online before this meeting to see details of the next plan. We know about Heritage Ireland 2030, which is important and exciting, and that there is substantial public engagement, which says much about the organisation and that is great. We also know that there is a summary of the Heritage Council's two public consultations and that it had a specific set of consultations with professional people or, shall we say, people directly involved in the heritage area. I acknowledge that was a very clever move on the council's part because it included different disciplines, expertise and, perhaps, views. It is important that we do not have groupthink but engagement at all levels on heritage.

I would now like a summary of the focus engagement. Where are we going with it? The Heritage Council had a very substantial consultation that I presume it analysed and prioritised in sets of subject matter so there are themes, specific proposals, ideas and actions, but following on from proposals and actions there are timelines. I would like to hear about those - not necessarily today if there is not enough time - and I ask the representatives to send the committee a summary of the issues on which people engaged because that is what we want to hear about. What is the next stage of the plan?

I acknowledge the important work of An Taisce of which I have been a member for years. It has a struggling membership with an older age profile. People do not have the same time, they are working, the dynamics of their lives have very much changed in the past few years and, therefore, this sector has relied heavily on voluntary contributions, workers and expertise. We will have to up it a gear and this is where the Heritage Council has a role. It should ultimately be a referring group. We should be able to refer to it, along with local authorities. I would like to see more cross-engagement in the sector. I wish the Heritage Council well. It is an exciting time for both its representatives and I wish them the very best of luck.