Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I believe we would all be in agreement that the Title of a Bill should suitably describe the main content of the Bill as accurately as possible. The current Title of this Bill, as proposed by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, reflects the broad scope of the Bill while focusing on a central element of the provisions contained therein.

The term "historic heritage", as defined in section 2 of the Bill, encompasses a range of different heritage areas, and I am bringing forward amendments in order that "cultural heritage" will be one of the areas brought into scope. I do not believe that the term "cultural heritage" should be listed in the Title as to do so would give the impression that "cultural heritage" is somehow provided for in a way that goes over or beyond other aspects of historic heritage, such as architectural heritage. This is in contrast to "archaeological heritage", as many elements of the Bill have been purposely developed in order that the Bill will become the core foundational legislation for the archaeological sector. This includes provision for archaeological monuments, archaeological objects, archaeological excavations and archaeological inventories.

While the importance of our national monuments cannot be overstated, within the overall scope of the Bill they are a relatively small element and, accordingly, a deliberate decision was made to move away from "monuments" in the Title of the Bill in order to avoid it being narrowly focused.

I hope that explains the rationale behind the current Title. I can confirm that some attention has been given to this issue already, but, unfortunately, for the reasons I have outlined, I am unable to accept this amendment.