Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I got a phone call today about the upcoming event in the Garden of Remembrance organised by the Department of the Taoiseach to commemorate all of those people and families who lost their lives in the tragic Civil War. It is very important that we do that and that we come together for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. History evolves and moves on but, in ways, it never changes. There is a lot of unfinished business.

I hope the Bill will be flexible enough to embrace communities that have different monuments and memorials in places like Béal na mBláth and many other places all over the country, that do a lot of work to maintain them and that take pride in them. As I have said, they do not need to be taken over or hijacked by any outfits. We have a good and cherished history and we appreciate, nurture and salute it. We should be all be able to do that together on this shared island. What hope have we of maintaining the peace process or getting a 32-county Ireland if this happens to monuments on which the Third Tipperary Brigade Old IRA Commemoration Community, of which I was the public relations officer for decades, have done tremendous work? The late Carrie Acheson was the secretary. She died only a couple of months ago. There are monuments in all kinds of places where fatalities occurred and people lost their lives and some are being taken over by other organisations as if they were theirs. It is shocking. We need a protected list. We do not want to be too protective or prohibitive but we need a new model in these times so that we can have what we should have.

There are many other areas of archaeological interest in Tipperary. Someone mentioned the lioses. As far as I am concerned, it is sacrilege to knock a lios. I have heard about some people knocking them and not having a lot of luck thereafter. Some fine lioses are not protected but remain untouched. It is an excellent part of our heritage. We have all heard stories about the fairies. Perhaps there are a few around these buildings. They are everywhere. Lioses were protected, and their folklore and stories were handed down. What better way to learn our history that is handed down by tongue and in writing? We need to nurture our history, including recent history and not only what is way back in the past, and to protect our houses. We must get a reasonable fund to protect the lead in houses such as Knocklofty House. Water is pouring in and that house is being destroyed before our eyes. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his indulgence and look forward to working with the Minister of State on this legislation.

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