Ms Rosemary Collier:

I concur with Ms Teehan's assessment of the ethical issues relating to conservation. It is an exceptionally complex area and there are differing views. With our work at the OPW, there would be instances where, for example, high crosses have been taken out of situ, taken out of their context, preserved and brought to indoor locations. More recently, the bells at Howth have been brought into the care of the National Museum because for their protection removing them from context is appropriate. There are scenarios where taking the national monument out of its context can be done. Again, it is about the process around the assessment of that, the recording of it, how we share the information around that and how we perpetuate the context for future audiences and generations to be able to appreciate.

On national monument sites we care for, we have many instances of properties where the practice has been that how we have inherited them now is the extant value of the national monument site and to preserve and conserve that as we find it now is the principle around conservation. There will be community groups and differing views where people want to see full conservation or reinstatement and that is not possible with the structure. Conservation practice around those sites might suggest preserving and conserving them in the condition in which we find them. Trying to find the layers of the stories and telling the layers of those stories, interpreting it and continuing to record that is more valuable.

Climate impact assessment is now hugely important now with our national heritage. We have done a major project at Sceilg Mhichíl in terms of a detailed climate impact assessment there. Again, Ms Teehan referred to coastal and ocean sites that are particularly vulnerable. It is about the exercise of recording now and understanding the impacts and accepting also - and our colleagues in Historic Environment Scotland would be dealing with this issue hugely - that there are going to be some monuments we are going to lose to the forces of nature and that there is no holding this back. We have a number of forts in our coastal areas that are especially vulnerable. In Scotland they have lost particular sites already. Understanding climate impact, and doing as much as we can now to get ahead with the assessment is really important but also maybe that recording piece and understanding there are parts of what is happening with the climate crisis we will not be able to hold back and not be able to mitigate.