Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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69. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when her Department will address issues and implement new measures at the Hill of Tara (details supplied).. [3447/18]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The Hill of Tara is a magical place. It has a special place in the hearts and minds of Irish people all over the world and is one the few locations that is internationally recognised. According to tradition, it is the seat of the High Kings of Ireland and it is covered with numerous, internationally recognised monuments including a neolithic passage grave which is 5,000 years old and the banqueting hall of Tara, as well as the Lia Fáil. It is a massive cultural asset to the country and to County Meath but it is all but ignored by the Department and the Office of Public Works, OPW. It is not in a fit state for the number of visitors it has and I ask what the Minister is looking to do to fix that.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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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.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

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.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The Hill of Tara is full of archaeological monuments. It has historical links with the 1798 rising and with Daniel O'Connell's monster meetings as well. The Minister mentioned the number of people who have visited it. The figure of 200,000 is conservative. It is probably closer to 250,000. There are at least 1,000 buses travelling to the Hill of Tara every year. It pains me to say this because it is literally four miles from my house, but currently the Hill of Tara is in a mess. It is really difficult to find parking at the space. A field is being used for parking at the moment. Buses find it extremely hard to navigate the area. The hill itself is increasingly mucky. The rath on which the Lia Fáil currently stands is flooded throughout the whole of the year. There are no pathways of any sort. There are some archaeological worries around the introduction of pathways onto the hill itself, but the ground is currently being torn up by people. There must be extra focus on the outside of the OPW site because there are planning issues. There are issues with the lack of capacity, toilets, shops and restaurants, and I would ask the Minister to take a more comprehensive view on how this can be fixed.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising these concerns. I understand that Meath County Council is reviewing its county development plan. It will have to look at parking and traffic congestion around the Hill of Tara, and I understand that at the November meeting of Meath County Council's Ashbourne municipal district, the executive and members agreed to scope out and prepare a brief for the appointment of consultants to carry out a feasibility study which will examine car parking and toilet facilities.

The Deputy is correct to say that the critical amenity infrastructure issues around the Hill of Tara have to be dealt with. I very much welcome that and the fresh impetus that this new working group will give to the environs of the Hill of Tara, which as the Deputy has pointed out is very important internationally. There are 100 acres of State-owned lands and 150 recorded archaeological monuments spanning 5,000 years, from the neolithic to the medieval period. We have to look after our heritage. At the moment the figures that we have suggest that 200,000 people visited the Hill of Tara in 2017, but perhaps the working group will say otherwise. It remains to be seen, but I am satisfied that the concerns the Deputy has will be addressed by this new working group.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I believe the Minister should have two or three guiding rules here. The first rule should be the protection of the heritage on the site. The second rule should be that it is open, offering safe, unrestricted access. The third rule should be that the Minister looks at the opportunity presented here. Not only does the heritage available on the site set minds alight with the wonder of the history and the location, but the fact that this is a facility with a quarter of a million people and upwards visiting regularly should mean that the Minister should be looking at how to develop the area so that it adds economically to the location, having already fulfilled the obligation of protecting the heritage there.

The problem I have is that there is a report which has been sitting with the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for the past three years which I believe has not been acted on at all. The Minister has mentioned the publication of another report. Will there be a budget to go with that as well? When will the report sitting with the Department be delivered and will there be a budget associated with the report?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the Deputy's concerns. As I mentioned in my original reply, there is a revised draft plan which we hope to have by mid-summer. It is focused on conservation and site management. Meath County Council will have to look at the car parking and toilet facilities issue. The Office of Public Works looks after the day-to-day management of the Hill of Tara. It is the symbolic capital of Ireland. That is not in dispute, and we have to have a proper plan for it. The plan that is there will include all stakeholders. It will be a five to ten-year policy plan. We want to make sure that the aesthetic, social and spiritual values of the Hill of Tara are protected. As a Minister I want to make sure that we look after our heritage, in particular the Hill of Tara which is such a popular place to go to. It was the site of the 1798 rebellion, among other historical events which the Deputy mentioned earlier. We are looking at a serial application to UNESCO and whether we can do something with that. I am satisfied that we will have something with which to come back to the Deputy by mid-summer, and it is to be hoped that will address his concerns.