Mr. Michael MacDonagh:

I will come in first on deterioration. It is not proposed to make deterioration an offence. Given the wide range of things and structures proposed to be covered by the Bill, such as ruined castles, it would be onerous and unfair for owners of such antiquities to be put under an offence of deterioration. The focus of the Minister of State and the Department is to provide significant additional funding to private owners for the upkeep of monuments and we hope that will continue. Through the newly established community monuments fund, the historic structures fund etc., we are providing money through local authorities to private owners. In the case of the community monuments fund, there is 100% funding to enable the upkeep of antiquities and monuments of which they are the proud custodians and stewards, to protect them from falling down and for future generations.

On the national heritage estate, we work closely with our Office of Public Works colleagues on conserving our wonderful national monuments and historic properties in the Minister's ownership and care.

In areas such as Mountjoy Square, there is clearly a lot of overlap with built heritage legislation and planning law. As Mr. Kirwan pointed out, there are cases in which we will have to look at which legislation suits better and offers better protection. Those are things we will look at down the line. There are varying levels and pieces of legislation which can help protect those. There is the Town Centres First policy and the forthcoming policy on architecture. All these initiatives are meant to strengthen the focus on the care of such heritage, especially in urban town centres.