Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Donnelly. I agree with the Minister of State's view on election posters. I did not put up many, but you certainly feel at a disadvantage driving around the county seeing thousands of your opponents' posters and only one or two of your own. I have no doubt that, after the storm on the day of the count in 2020, many posters were left lying around or hidden in bushes, and cable ties were left up on poles. If we were to restrict the numbers, it would make sense and even the playing field anyway.

I apologise to the Minister of State and the committee as I was attending another meeting in the House. I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the meeting. I welcome the statement, which I read, about the vernacular architectural strategy. It is a good one and I look forward to the document being published next week.

There is a major national debate about rural housing and there are many conflicts in this regard. The Minister of State is familiar with the Flemish decree, which is a constant subject of Commencement matters in the Seanad. We are told the Department is looking at this. Old barns, lodges, cottages or rural farmhouses on sites may be 90% okay, although they may have a damaged roof that caused people to move out, and we need a definite policy encouraging their use. They are houses of interest, perhaps, although they may not always have historic value. There is a heritage significance in terms of how they were constructed. It is another arm of action to be used to enhancing rural communities and also providing homes for people. It is an important point.

I really want to focus on the heritage area and I welcome the idea of developing heritage officers. I also welcome the idea of pursuing every local authority to have a conservation officer. We need to be clearer about the role of the conservation officer. In the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, for example, with which I am familiar, the conservation officers are aligned to the architects' department. In some local authorities, the conservation officer is aligned to a planning department, although I accept that not all local authorities have a separate architect and planning section. There are certain pressures in any organisation and an agenda for redevelopment and new development. I am very familiar with planners who have resisted the inclusion of buildings on the record of protected structures and they argue the sites need to be cleared because of pressure. We must remember that this designation of protected structures is exclusively a reserved function; ultimately members take advice but they make a final decision. That must always be the way.

Will the Minister of State comment on the national inventory of architectural heritage, NIAH? What is happening in Dublin is very positive. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has been waiting for one for years. It has a large number of protected structures and it is clearly not a priority for the NIAH. Will the Minister of State at a subsequent date let us know where we are with all that?

There is an issue with protected structures in itself and I have had ongoing engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, on this. Again, there is a view in some local authorities that we can only designate protected structures during a development review process. There is another view that this can be done through a variation. There are different examples. I know Galway County Council has lots of six or ten throughout the span of a development plan. There are mixed messages. I have found that planners can be wrong and chief executives of local authorities can spew misinformation. I have checked this with the Department. There are three mechanisms or strands in which to designate protected structures. I ask that an updated circular be sent to elected members. I know they already engage with the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, a colleague of the Minister of State who is attending the committee today. He has done much work on this.

There are two or three other items. I looked at the programme for Government the other day and under the built heritage section on page 90, there is mention of publishing and implementing a new all-Ireland Government heritage policy. We had a very positive engagement with the chief executive and chair of the Heritage Council two weeks ago. It was a really positive experience. I picked up from the engagement that people are keen to see the national heritage plan, so will the Minister of State speak to us about that?

On the whole, this is a very positive area. The Minister of State is very easy to deal with and engage with. I thank him and his staff for that. I am glad to see the Minister of State here. If there is something I would like to see more of in this committee, and I say it in the Minister of State's presence, it is a renewed focus on heritage. We spend much time on housing, planning and local government. Perhaps we should spend more time on the end of the tag line, which is heritage. I am delighted the Minister of State is here nonetheless.

I have a final point on electoral reform. I raised this before and I still hold the view that it is not in our interest to have 31 different systems of local authority looking after electoral registers. We must get with it and modernise the system. We are a small enough country to have a centralised system, with one local authority managing it on behalf of other local authorities. Different local authorities can do different things. Some local authorities do not do door-to-door canvassing to get people on the register and check them. We have been forced into using technology more in the past 12 months because of Covid-19 but we need a slicker and a much more professional and centralised register. It can be subbed out but we do not need to duplicate resources and staff around 31 local authorities. I do not normally subscribe to the idea of taking things away from local authorities but in this case we would benefit from having a slick, professional and consistent approach across the country.