Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 17 February 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Monuments and Archaeological Heritage Bill: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Ms Virginia Teehan:

We do not have the exact details on the number.

More generally, on the ethical issues the Deputy raised about conservation and restoration of sites, it is a very complex issue and professional conservators differ. In general, when a monument is destroyed and damaged, reestablishing the context of the monument, which is frequently where its value lies, is sometimes very difficult, if not impossible. An architectural site is more tangible sometimes and particularly architectural monuments that go back in time. I will defer to Mr. Doyle but recent practice, and it is something the Heritage Council is becoming more engaged in, is around the impact of climate change and how we as heritage professionals provide advice and guidance around it. We develop programmes of recording monuments before destruction happens. Emerging technologies allow this in very novel ways. There is the use of virtual reality technologies in some countries to record sites that are vulnerable, especially in coastal areas that are being eroded. This is something in the future where a voice is important to allow this sort of activity to happen so future generations have at least a knowledge, if not an experience, of what was there before. Natural disasters will increase. Our climate is changing. We need to be prepared for that change. I defer to Mr. Doyle on the details around the liabilities as he may have more accurate information than I do.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.