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

I know what the Minister of State said. With the best will in the world, the Heritage Council thus far has not had sufficient resources to carry out its duties. That is not the fault of the Minister of State. It is the fault of successive Governments. There are many more, and not just in terms of our built heritage. There is our environmental heritage as well. That requires a good deal more protection. That comes down to Government priorities but also some of those who presented before the committee when we were dealing with the pre-legislative scrutiny. It is in the report relating to the latter. Dr. Amy Strecker and Ms Sinéad Mercier also noted in their submission to the committee that the proposed Bill, as then drafted - and we obviously have gone well beyond that - contained a disproportionate amount of ministerial discretion. Part of the suggested safeguards was to separate some of his role and have an advisory committee made up of what is not a huge cast. It would not be major burden on the State. If the Minister of State is saying that the Heritage Council has that role, can he guarantee that it will be able to act in the manner proposed in the amendment? Will it have access to all of those with expertise, as mentioned in my amendment, on an ongoing basis? Will it have the role to ensure there is oversight of ministerial decisions? The Minister has to act on the basis of the advice given by such a body. That is key in much of this. They are the experts. We in here are elected for a period. We are presumed by the public to be experts on everything, but the real experts are often those who have the qualifications and built up the expertise over the years.

The real experts, however, are often those who have gone and got the qualifications and the expertise and built that expertise up over years. Part of the role is to ensure that the State apparatus listens to those who have the expertise and, in this case, understand how fragile our heritage and our national monuments are such that the advice given is listened to.