Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Hill of Tara, with its many earthwork monuments and long historical associations, is one of Ireland’s premier national monuments and is of international prominence and importance.  In recent years, it has been subject to extensive research by the Discovery Programme, funded by my Department, through which our knowledge and understanding of the site has been greatly increased.

The Office of Public Works, OPW, has responsibility for day-to-day management of the State-owned lands and conducts ongoing monitoring of visitor numbers to the site which has open access all year round and is used by large numbers from the local community as well as by many other visitors. Around 200,000 people visited Tara in 2017. I acknowledge the work our OPW colleagues do to maintain the site in optimal condition.  Meath County Council and its county manager also do a lot of work in this area.

We need to be aware of the potential impact increasing visitor numbers might have on the upstanding monuments and on the site itself. The imperative is, first and foremost, to protect and conserve the site so that it remains in a good state of conservation and that visitors and future generations can derive maximum enjoyment and benefit from visiting it. With that in mind, my Department is leading a working group of relevant stakeholders, including the OPW, Meath County Council, the Heritage Council and the Discovery Programme, with a view to developing a conservation management plan for the State-owned lands at the hill. This working group met as recently as 18 January 2018 when a provisional roadmap was agreed which anticipates the revised draft plan being ready for circulation in mid-summer.

The new plan will focus on conservation and will inform a list of priority conservation and site management actions and measures. Focusing on the lands that are in the ownership of the State, it will inform future interventions on the site, aided by the ongoing monitoring of visitor numbers by the OPW. The plan will not, nor is it intended to, address land use and planning issues in the wider environs of Tara. It will nevertheless help to inform the future planning and development of the area.

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Meath County Council has the primary role and responsibility for such issues as car parking facilities and traffic management, including safety on approach roads. I understand that the council is developing proposals in this regard that will strive to be compatible with the conservation management plan for the hill itself. My Department and the OPW will liaise and co-operate with the council in every way possible in this regard.

While the development of a plan of this nature is challenging, given the complexity and size of the site and the interests of varied stakeholders, I am confident that it can be completed and adopted in 2018.  When finalised, it will form a solid framework in which all of the ongoing site management issues referred to by the Deputy will be addressed.  It will help to inform conservation priorities on the site and guide future investment decisions in visitor and interpretation facilities that are compatible with its international standing and significance.

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