Mr. Seán Carpenter:

There will be a lot of transitional provisions required under the proposed legislation just because it is revising and replacing such a broad number of provisions. One of the key timelines is how long it will take for the existing records of monuments and places, register of historical monuments and so on to transfer over to the new register of monuments, and how that will take place. A lot of this is operational details that we have to still take into full consideration. At a rough estimate, we could be talking about three years to move from where we are now over to a fully finalised register of monuments. That might not be done in one fell swoop. We might potentially look at doing it by specified geographical areas, depending on what is operationally possible.

As Mr. MacDonagh points out, the Bill if enacted now would not have any effect in that the different provisions will come into effect by way of commencement orders. Even if we do repeal the 1930 Act and amending Acts, they will continue to be in force in respect of the monuments in the existing portfolio or the designated monuments under the existing legislation until a ministerial order is made on a certain date stating that from that date, the old legislation ceases to apply and the proposed Bill comes into effect. As Mr. Kirwan points out, there are tens of thousands of these structures and sites to be processed and reviewed. I would say perhaps three years but it is very hard to put an estimate on it.