Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response.

As regards amendment No. 192, I do not see why this wording is needed. Does this wording mean that if a local authority produces a map and shows the monument on it, it could fall foul of this part of the Bill? Showing where a significant monument is could be deemed to be promoting public access. Could the local authority run foul of this part of the Bill? I do not see why the wording is necessary in that sense.

As regards amendment No. 213, my wording here is not that the Minister, the commissioners or a local authority "shall" enforce; it is "may" enforce. It gives them the ability to do so. It states "as appropriate", so that would give them leeway. If there is a health and safety issue, if the monument poses a danger to public safety, clearly it would not be appropriate in those circumstances for a local authority to enforce something like this. It has leeway the way I have written that amendment. It is "may", not "shall" enforce. It gives the local authority the ability to do this if it wants. It is not an onerous obligation. It does not mean that it would apply to all monuments but it means that the local authority would have the ability. I think I have made the point well that there are some very significant monuments that are not national monuments.

Perhaps they should be national monuments. Maybe there should be a category for significant monuments that are not in public ownership but have a status the same as all the other monuments. This might be a debate for another day. Why would we not want to have the ability to have access to these?

I appreciate the Minister of State's comment on amendment No. 214 that he may come back to this matter on Report Stage, and, if so, I will not be pressing it. I certainly reserve the right to put something back in on this for Report Stage. I appreciate he is going to look at this proposal, but what are the chances he will have something in this regard on Report Stage? That is my question. Otherwise, I will want to press this current amendment.