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

Regarding amendment No. 193, sometimes an action may be within the realms of possibility but cannot be taken for practicable reasons, for example, due to a lack of resources, materials or funding. It may be possible to do a great many things in respect of a national monument, but it is not realistic to impose a legal obligation that all things possible shall be done. I cannot accept this amendment, as it is not workable.

Amendment No. 195 follows the commitment I made in the Seanad to review the possibility of broadening the scope of the term “relevant interest” to include “cultural interest”. As this integration of “cultural interest” into the Bill has been deemed possible, and since the terms “artistic interest” and “traditional interest” were already in use within the text of the Bill, these have been grouped together under a new definition of “cultural interest” that also includes “literary interest”. A new definition to provide for “traditional interest” is also proposed. This is another consequential amendment being proposed so that the relevant terms appear appropriately throughout the Bill, in this instance regarding the maintenance and presentation of national monuments.