Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill, which largely tidies up the Mulcreevy judgment problem and ensures that the primary legislation complies with statutory instruments enacted. I also welcome the move of responsibility for heritage to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. As my colleague, Deputy Tóibín, has highlighted the issue of The O'Rahilly house and what happened there, it is beneficial that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage now has oversight in the area and that responsibility for heritage falls under its remit.

I understand that the Minister will still be allowed to put on a heritage hat, as it were, and comment on proposed planning applications where there are heritage aspects involved. Indeed, the Minister will be able to ask for full heritage studies in advance of SDZ planning or before An Bord Pleanála takes note of applications. This is to be welcomed. We have a rich and historical heritage in Ireland and we must do our best to protect it. It is the envy of the world and one of the main drivers of foreign tourism into Ireland.

Under the Bill, there is support for the broadcasting sector. As other Deputies have done, I would like to call for support for local radio stations, specifically, WLR FM and Beat FM in Waterford. They provide a tremendous public and community service. Like many businesses, they have seen their advertising revenue plummet. I ask that the Government continues to provide support to these businesses and to the sector.

Going back to the issue of heritage, I want to talk about heritage in my own county. Waterford city is the oldest city in the country, dating back 1,100 years. In the environs of the city is the oldest Viking site in the country, and probably the largest Viking site outside of mainland Europe, dating from 850 AD. There are plans in the future to put some interpretation on this, and I hope that the Department will be supportive in the provision of revenue for that.

I would also like to highlight two other initiatives that are presently ongoing in Waterford, namely, the development of a new time museum and a silver museum. I hope that the time museum will soon be designated as the national Irish horological museum. I invite the Minister and the Minister of State to come to Waterford for the opening of this museum. It contains examples of European clockmaking dating back to 1550 and Irish clockmaking dating back to 1680. These exhibits are unparalleled anywhere else in the country. I hope that they will help to drive tourism. Indeed, the new Waterford silver museum is opening, which contains exhibits of Irish and British European silver that are unique in some parts of Europe. I commend the previous Government on introducing section 1003 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Credit must go to the Government which has allowed people to claim tax benefits there and to provide exhibits to that museum.

I also echo the comments of Deputy Tóibín and others about the Moore Street situation. I would also like to see support for that centre and for plans to be developed in order to protect its structures.

On another point in respect of heritage that will come up shortly under the national climate Bill, we will be looking at the issue of landscaping in terms of heritage. I would point out that in the south of Ireland, there is a very different topography to that found in the west. We have a significant amount of hedgerows. I wonder how these are going to be calculated in the climate Bill. It may be a discussion for another day, but I wish to flag that there are a significant amount of hedgerows in the south of the country. They are part of carbon sequestration. I would like to see how they are documented within the climate Bill.

I would also like to highlight the issue of the national marine planning framework, which is going through at the moment and is opening up the country to significant wind development, particularly along the south, south-east and south-wests coasts. Again, as part of our national climate strategy we have not spoken about Government interaction with international data centres. I contend that much of the wind generation that we are proposing to put offshore is going to be used up in powering these data centres. In essence, there will be no green coupon for Ireland in terms of climate mitigation. This is an issue which I hope this Department can take up with the Departments of Finance, and the Environment, Climate and Communications to ensure that we have a strategy that makes sense going forward.

I welcome this largely technical Bill. I extend a warm welcome to the Minister and the Minister of State to come to Waterford when the time museum opens shortly. I hope it will be designated as the national horological museum in future.

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