Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will reiterate what I said at the outset. We are really grateful on the heritage side to have this attention and focus on our work. We know this is an incredibly busy committee that has worked through a huge amount of housing legislation since the Government was formed. We deeply appreciate the fact that it is affording equal time, energy and effort into heritage. It is equally important to other aspects and we appreciate that.

I will launch the vernacular architectural strategy this week in my county of Kilkenny. One of the buildings on the front is in Mooncoin in County Kilkenny and I look forward to launching it. It is a well-considered policy strategy and I will be happy to distribute a copy to the members of the committee next week along with a National Monuments Service calendar.

The Senator made a point about the Flemish decree and rural housing. I will not get into a full debate on that but there are significant challenges around the country where populations are in decline and perhaps consideration could be given to clustered housing and constructed wetlands in dealing with such approaches. There is no doubt we should not be demolishing our vernacular heritage. It can be repurposed and reused for housing and that should be happening. Ireland has beautiful farmhouses and cottages that might be reused for modern living and that should be given absolute consideration. Our traditional barns and outbuildings also provide fantastic refuges for bats and barn owls and we want to see this recognised as well.

The Senator mentioned that conservation officers are sometimes aligned to planning departments. He also mentioned the reserved function of elected members for the record of protected structures. We take on board the Senator's point on how local authorities update their record. In my time on a local authority, it was intermittent and may have happened once or twice per year and during a development plan cycle. There probably should be consistency in considering how local authorities update their record of protected structures. As I said, NIAH has submitted the records for Dublin city and there are over 1,400 there for consideration. It is a major job for elected members. Perhaps Ms Ryan might comment further on that. We have given additional resources to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage to continue that work and expand it around updating the inventory. It is very important work.

The Senator referred to Heritage Ireland 2030, a copy of which I have here. There is still some work to be done on it but I hope we will be in a position to launch it early in the new year after it has gone to Cabinet. It is a much-anticipated launch. I welcome the fantastic session that the committee had with both the chair and chief executive of the Heritage Council. I spoke with them afterwards and it was very valuable to them as well. We recognise and thank the committee for the session.

Mr. Ryan will speak to the electoral reform piece. Our intention through the electoral reform Bill is to streamline the register. That will require a specific role for local authorities.