Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé ag glacadh na ceiste seo ar son an Aire sinsearach, an Teachta Heather Humphreys. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Byrne as ucht na ceiste seo a ardú. Tá suim mhór agam san ábhar seo ós rud é go bhfuil ceangal dearfach idir mo chontae féin agus Contae na Mí, mar shampla i gcomhthéacs Naomh Colm Cille. Dá bhrí sin, tá mé sásta labhairt fá dtaobh den ábhar seo inniu.

Having a site progressed from being on a national tentative list to its inscription by UNESCO on the world heritage list is a long and involved process which requires comprehensive management plans for the site, full agreement with local interests, significant local authority actions and support and the production of highly detailed nomination documents that require significant financial investment. Each stage of the process has to be quality controlled and checked by experts to ensure the nomination documentation reaches the high standards laid down by UNESCO. We are working at all times to UNESCO standards and requirements and not to any local framework.

Ireland's current world heritage tentative list has come about from a comprehensive, thorough and detailed process undertaken by a panel of Irish and international heritage experts specifically appointed for that purpose. The tentative list produced by the expert group contains a list of seven potential nominations, including early medieval monastic sites of which Kells forms part, along with Clonmacnoise, Durrow, Glendalough, Inis Cealtra and Monasterboice. The expert group felt these six sites were exemplars of the early Irish Church's rich cultural and historical past which played a crucial role in Europe's educational and artistic development.

In September 2013, my Department held a seminar to explain the next steps in the process to the local authorities and local groups from the areas with proposals which had successfully made it on to the tentative list. The objective was to gauge the extent of the support which would be available to advance these proposals, as well as to set out the work that would be involved and the associated costs. The seminar was followed by a series of working group meetings related to each of the sites. My Department, together with world heritage experts, was there to facilitate discussion.

My Department's view is that without strong local enthusiasm and backing there is little prospect of success for any nomination. This bottom-up approach is also UNESCO's favoured policy. As Kells is in a serial nomination with other sites and is part of a representative sample of Irish monuments, unless all the component parts enjoy local support, there is much less scope for a nomination to proceed any further. The representatives who are now most actively engaged with my Department in pushing on with their proposals on that basis are those from The Burren and the Royal Sites of Ireland.

Although other nominations may not be moving ahead as quickly, this does not mean that they are removed from the tentative list. My Department would be delighted to engage again with representatives of the areas in the early medieval monastic sites nomination, if the local communities, and especially the local authorities which must generally take the lead, are interested. However, without all involved firmly on board, the rationale for the nomination does not have the necessary standing or completeness.

My Department has sought, and continues, to work with local interests to bring forward the nominations of the internationally important archaeological sites on our tentative list. This will continue to be the approach.