Mr. Seán Carpenter:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. The general scheme refers to a monument being either a prescribed or a registered monument. The idea here is to simplify some of the terminology that we use. A prescribed monument is basically going to be a relevant thing and it will be a broad definition. Structures and sites that are of archaeological interest will be eligible to be prescribed and, therefore, the Minister will set out regulations and they will define what a prescribed monument is.

By way of background, the idea is to fill a gap in the existing legislation where newly discovered monuments, in many cases, do not have any legal protection afforded to them until they are designated a monument. The idea here is that by prescribing them we will be able to afford that level of legal protection to them before they are even discovered as such.

Second, there is registered monuments. Again, it is a relevant thing so we are talking about structures and sites. The definition is slightly broader so as opposed to just being of archaeological interest, it will be of relevant interest. We are talking archaeological interest, architectural interest, historical interest, etc. Those two terms are defined in head 2. Either those prescribed monuments or the registered monuments will be what we are talking about when we refer to a monument in the actual Bill.

Under head 8, when it comes to the prescribed monuments there will be a requirement to report finds of prescribed monuments. Again, we will set out in regulations exactly how that is meant to happen. The idea will be that within something like a 72-hour period after finding, or believing one has found, a prescribed monument that it will have to be reported to either the Minister or the Garda Síochána.

Finally, regarding underwater cultural heritage, our territorial waters and the contiguous zone, etc., at the moment we have the 12 nautical mile and 24 nautical mile jurisdictions where we can apply some of the laws as if we are dealing with archaeological objects and monuments on land. What we are hoping to do is make provision for the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. That will extend the scope out to a 200-mile radius where either certain relevant people, be it a captain of an Irish registered ship or an Irish resident, if they are engaged in certain activities or if the discover underwater cultural heritage they will be obliged to report those finds to the Minister. I hope that those provisions will widen the scope of what we can do in the context of protecting underwater cultural heritage.

As regards the question on the board of the National Museum of Ireland and the director, I ask Mr. Kirwan to provide some background.