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

I thank the Minister of State for that detailed answer. It is great that the Heritage Council has two archaeologists and one historian, but that illustrates the very point I was trying to make. This can be contrasted with the range of expertise there would be on a national monuments advisory council with a panel of ten or 15 experts with knowledge of different eras. Crucially, the expert in a particular area might not even be the person to advise on a particular monument, but having that range of expertise allows them to know the best person in Ireland to contact regarding that era.

I thank the Minister of State for the information on the excavation licences. Of the more than 15,000 excavation licences issued, how many have been preserved in situ? Of those that have been preserved in situ, how many have formed part of, for example, the Ireland's Ancient East offering? Based on the response, people might think that all is well with the preservation of monuments. I will give one example of something that happened about 20 years ago. Over the past 150 or 200 years there has been mass destruction of monuments in this country.

I will give one example of a very significant archaeological find which I believe certainly should have been preserved in situ. There was a very significant find at Carrickmines Castle, a very historic site. It should have been preserved in situ. There were very significant findings of the castle structure, the walls and everything else. In Dublin there are not many sites like that from that era, and not with the history of that particular site relating to the defences of Dublin and everything else that went with that. However, rather than preserving that in situand having it open to the public to visit, everything that was found there is sitting in a warehouse somewhere having been dismantled. There is ongoing destruction and removal of our heritage with stuff not being preserved in situ. I absolutely accept that not everything needs to be preserved in situ, but significant finds do. If we had a national monuments advisory council, I believe it would have advised strongly that this was a significant find and should be kept in place. However, we did not have a national monuments advisory council. We have the current structures and as a result it is not preserved in situ. People are not visiting it today. They are not learning about it. They are not valuing the archaeology. That can never be put back and the damage is done.

There is a significant issue here and we need to put forward a solution to it. Continuing in the same vein is not working.