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

I move amendment No. 284:

In page 158, after line 33, to insert the following:

“Signage

191.(1) The Minister may cause a sign to be placed at, or adjacent to, a monument for the purposes of providing guidance to members of the public, who are in the immediate vicinity of the monument, as to— (a) their responsibilities as regards the monument whilst in such vicinity,

(b) the nature of the archaeological, architectural, artistic, historic or traditional interest of the monument, or

(c) both such responsibilities and such interest. (2) The Minister may cause a sign referred to in subsection (1) to be removed or removed and replaced.

(3) In any proceedings for an offence under this Act relating to a monument, it shall not be a defence for the person charged with the offence to prove that, at the time the offence was committed, the monument was not the subject of a sign referred to in subsection (1).”.

This amendment provides for the erection and removal of signs at monuments. These signs may be to inform members of the public of their responsibilities at monuments or to provide explanatory and interpretive information for a given monument. An important part of this provision makes it clear that if a person is charged with an offence under the enacted Bill, it will not be a defence for a person to prove that at the time the offence was committed, the monument was not the subject of a sign under this proposed section.