Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 19, lines 27 and 28, to delete “Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023” and substitute “Historic, Archaeological and Cultural Heritage, National Monuments, and Miscellaneous Provisions 2023”.

This amendment in some ways goes back to the start. It proposes to change the Title of the Bill by deleting "Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions" and substituting "Historic, Archaeological and Cultural Heritage, National Monuments, and Miscellaneous Provisions". The key difference there is a recognition from the start, so there is no confusion, that we are dealing with cultural heritage and that it is specifically outlined that this is a national monuments Bill. The original Title, which I have here somewhere among my papers, referred to national monuments. I know we have gone through quite a long process with this. We should still look to ensure that people understand these are national monuments and that this is the legislation where one goes to address them. The Long Title starts "an Act to repeal the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014", so it is proposed to repeal something people understood in order to bring in, yes, a broader Title, but I just have a concern that it would get lost in time. Also, the National Monuments Service has been there for years, the books have been produced and there is the detail on the national monuments, yet it is not in the Title.

I will not delay the House on this - we have quite a job of work to get through - but the Title is often important when people are searching out which Bill deals with what. Yes, historic and archaeological heritage is referred to, but there is quite a lot of other heritage involved. Even through the definitions and so on, there is potentially artistic heritage, other cultural heritage and so on. They should be reflected at an early stage in the Bill for anybody perusing it.

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