Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy O'Connor for allowing me to make my contribution during his allotted time. The purpose of the legislation is to provide for the completion of the M50, which is being done for the common good. The Minister stated this means the Government will bulldoze archaeological sites. We will be careful on Committee and Report Stages when we go through the legislation more thoroughly to ensure this does not happen. It must be ensured the legislation does not provide for the wholesale destruction of such sites.

While our national monuments should be preserved, at the same time, a balance must be struck between preservation and the common good. A definition of a national monument should have been included in the legislation. It is regrettable the Minister did not take the opportunity to include such a definition. Common sense must prevail. It is not enough in most cases to designate a site as a national monument. Many monuments are being allowed to deteriorate and fall into ruin. There is not much point in designating a structure as a national monument and then letting it fall down. Many are in a dangerous state. Resources should be made available through the Office of Public Works or, more importantly, local authorities to preserve such structures.

Owners of these sites are sometimes exposed if there are accidents. They cannot do much about this. A national monument is located beside a minor road in my constituency. It is an old castle, which is in ruins. Children play there every day and cars travel within yards of the site. The owner of the site facilitated Galway County Council in relocating the road, which only serves a few houses, on his land away from the national monument to preserve it. However, the council could not grant the man permission to demolish the monument. He did not have the resources to restore it and no funds were available to do so. Meanwhile, he could not get insurance to cover himself against the possibility of the monument collapsing and seriously injuring people. The Minister should examine the position of national monuments, which are a danger to the public. Protection should be provided for landowners or, at the very least, the sites should be made safe.

While people have the right to express objections against projects such as that at Carrickmines and to lobby and protest in support of their beliefs, sometimes they come up with excuses that do not stand up in terms of architectural heritage. Genuine projects are often much delayed as a result. I recall serious flooding in south Galway in 1995. Nine houses were flooded and cut off entirely. The occupants' only way in or out for eight to ten weeks was via a helicopter. The local community developed a flood relief scheme which comprised a simple three or four mile channel to the sea. Every obstacle was put in the way of the locals as they tried to resolve the problem. Horseshoe bats were found among the rocks.

That scheme was carried out. It cost €120,000 and solved the flooding problem in the south Galway area, which has not flooded since then. The Office of Public Works carried out a site investigation since which cost €1 million to see how the problem could be solved in south Galway, but a spade will never be used in that area again. That scheme could have been delayed for those reasons.

The Minister will be aware of the Mutton Island case, where there were serious objections because there were nesting grounds for terns, although terns had not nested there for 30 or 40 years. The project was delayed for five or six years and lost EU support grants, which meant the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government had to fund the scheme itself. Despite construction of the scheme, terns nested there two years ago. That is the reality of people objecting for the sake of it.

I attended the opening of the Mutton Island scheme and I saw the Minister's name on the plaque. Unfortunately, he could not attend because he was held up in the Dáil by Report Stage of the now failed electronic voting Bill. There is a monument to him on Mutton Island but I will inform people that he was in the Dáil that day trying to have the electronic voting Bill passed and failing in the process, I am glad to say, although there is nothing personal in that.

This Bill relates to the Carrickmines site and the M50. The latter is now like the village in Westmeath, Ballymore, which had two ends and no middle. That was an old saying about Ballymore, but it is no longer the case because there is a middle in it now. Like every other village, it has been filled up. The Carrickmines site is simply two ends of a road which cannot be joined in the middle and common sense must prevail. I recognise that legislation was needed for the common good to enable work to be completed on that necessary roadway. All other precautions should also be taken to ensure that the archaeological finds are protected and secured.

This Bill arises from the January High Court case which set aside an order by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government relating to the works on the M50 at Carrickmines. That Government order, which dates back to 1996 and 2002 and transferred certain functions of the OPW under the National Monuments Act, was invalid. This was described by the High Court as a technical hitch and the Minister therefore had no option but to bring forward legislation. All parties in the House acknowledge that the common good should prevail and there is support for the Minister's proposals. That is common sense, although we must always be careful, because we are the people who enact legislation, that there is no small print in Bills which would allow Ministers now and in the future, according to Deputy Morgan's gospel, to have more authority than is necessary in these cases.

Overall I welcome provisions to allow the necessary work to be completed because one cannot have millions of euro lost because of unreasonable delays in examining sites. I am not technically qualified to say so but, with modern technology, there must be a means of establishing in advance what archaeological remains lie underground. These should be established and put on the record before works commence rather than discovering them when work begins. If such remains were discovered at the site investigation stage of road planning, there would be an opportunity to change routes to avoid them.

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