Mr. Seán Kirwan:

As matters stand, it is a point of planning law rather than national monuments law. Under section 10 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, however, there is a mandatory objective for protecting archaeological heritage. It does not go into that level of detail in terms of setting out the kind of mapping or how things are to be listed in development plans. There are ministerial guidelines going back some years and issued by the Minister under the Planning and Development Act. Regarding development plans, those do deal in some detail with addressing archaeology in development plans. In the National Monuments Service, we have been working with our colleagues in the planning section of the Department to further revise those provisions, maybe having a particular set of guidance on archaeology and planning. Some of those issues are very important but they would be more a matter for planning guidance rather than something going into the legislation.