Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Norris and the Independent Group on bringing forward the Bill. I also welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will make a couple of points. I have been a member of the culture committee for years and heritage was taken away from us by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I welcome the increases that have been given to the Heritage Council by the Department. I think it was given €14 million in recent times. That figure had lingered at around €1 million, €2 million or €3 million from 2009 to 2018, the last time I collated the figures. It is a significant increase.

For years, Fáilte Ireland was probably the body funding heritage. That is problematic in its own way because communities had to justify their heritage projects on the basis of their tourism offering. That being the value we place on heritage is kind of twisted in a way. It is great to see the Heritage Council get its funding back to those levels. It would also be good for the House to have statements on Heritage Ireland 2030 at some point but, for now, I welcome this Bill and commend An Taisce and the Dublin Civic Trust on their work on it.

Some of the tenets we support include mandating the employment and increasing the number of conservation officers per number of protected structures in local authorities; prescribing the role of conservation officers; making the architectural conservation officer central to the formation of built heritage policy and planning enforcement in local authorities; significantly advancing planning enforcement powers, reporting times and actions required; clarifying and enhancing protections of architectural conservation areas; and increasing criminal penalties for damage to built heritage.

I cannot allow this debate to pass without expressing regret and sadness at the demolition of the O'Rahilly house but today, I welcome the Bill. I commend Senator Norris. I was expecting to have to commend his work over many years. It is a difficult job to do as a gay man. It is more of a feeling of respect and admiration. It is a privilege to have been able to work with him, especially in the last term, and to have had him co-sign my legislation on LGBT rights and to have co-signed his motions and work. I have absolute respect for him. If I try to articulate that, I will not do it justice.