Mr. Seán Kirwan:

That is a very important issue in the implementation of the legislation. A job of work will need to be done in developing guidance and information that could be made available to everybody in all sectors, including farmers, developers and those who are involved in working on land. There will have to be an education process as part of that. It is not just a case of putting something on the Statute Book that people are expected to know how to apply. There will be a great job of work needed over some years to make this fully effective by issuing guidance and developing knowledge and awareness.

Touching on the point made by Mr. Carpenter, the planning process will remain of great importance in trying to pre-empt some of these unexpected occurrences through requests for further information and appropriate archaeological conditions in the granting of permissions. This provision seeks to focus on the unexpected discoveries that the Senator is talking about. The key will be to get information out there to explain the position to people and to increase awareness. That is how this will operate in practice.