Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 65:

In page 36, line 23, to delete “situated.” and substitute the following:

“situated;

(g) an account of the find’s discovery, and of any interference, disturbance or damage that may have affected the find in the process of its discovery or thereafter, or before its value as a monument was understood.”.

The amendment basically proposes that somebody must report it to An Garda Síochána when he or she makes a find of a prescribed monument. At the moment, they have to include an account of the discovery and any interference or damage. The amendment seeks to ensure that a full account is given and inserts additional criteria so that there is an account of the find's discovery, whether the person interfered with it and whether there was any interference he or she was aware of and the disturbance and damage. It seeks to ensure such an account is given and establishes whether that discovery was affected in the process. Most people would presume that is what would be given, but if somebody unwittingly disturbs something or damages a find, he or she may not be forthcoming in exactly saying what he or she did. He or she may try to apportion blame to somebody else, even though there is no blame. For example, a digger driver could be in the wrong place some time and find something. It is important for archaeologists to know exactly how much digging went on and that there no attempt to re-cover it. There is a range of information that maybe useful to archaeologists when they come across a new find. The quicker they get that information, the better. The amendment tries to ensure, when the preliminary report is being put together, that as much detail as possible is included.