Mr. Rónán Swan:

In our contract documents, we rely on the current licensing arrangements that archaeologists are qualified once approved by the National Monuments Service through an interview process and so on. However, that does not necessarily have a basis in legislation. Incorporating that and an appeals process into this Bill is important and would be really useful. We can then bring that into our suitability assessment criteria and our quality procurement procedures. That will allow us to reinforce and strengthen them in terms of ensuring that we get very highly qualified people to do the work. I want to stress that the level of qualification and professionalism in the industry is fantastic.

Another key provision is the ability of the National Monuments Service and the Minister to take into possession the records of companies which went into liquidation. During the crash, several archaeological companies went into liquidation and there was no mechanism by which the archaeological and archival records of those companies could be taken in. That is a really important provision to ensure the security of the archaeological archive of the State into the future. I hope that addresses the question.