Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy can forward to me any correspondence he has on this because it will be of help to us. If we have a role in this, we want to be clear with the Deputy and the Dáil, but the wider question he has raised is something I am already attuned to, which is the ownership of the monuments versus those who manage, protect and oversee them. There is an issue in that respect that I would like to see cleared up. The Deputy raises a very particular point that the transfer of responsibility for these areas, particularly the 700 sites that are on the schedule I referred to, from one Department to another when those Departments are broken up and changed is not helpful. The one constant is the OPW and our role, but unfortunately, as new Departments emerge, we will have new linkages and relationships that we will have to try to rebuild. It would be much easier if there was clarity regarding the management, ownership and ongoing protection of them. It is a discussion I have already started with the Minister of State, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and it is an issue I hope we can get finality on in the coming days.

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