Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The amendments are introduced to avoid problems relating to monument ownership, and so that the term “ownership” as used in Chapter 15 of Part 2 of the Bill is construed to include any right, title, or interest acquired pursuant to subsection (3) of section 51. This will provide the Minister and local authorities with flexibility about the arrangements they can enter into in order to establish monuments as national monuments in their ownership. It will also remove any risk that the generally applicable definition of “owner” as set out in section 2 of the Bill might limit such flexibility.

The addition of a reference to section 78 in section 74 reflects the proposed amendment to section 78 so as to provide a mechanism for resolving cases where both the Minister and a local authority might claim sufficient legal interest in a monument as to be its owner for the purposes of the Bill. A situation could arise where the Minister and a local authority are both considered owners of a national monument, for example, in circumstances where a national monument owned by the Minister is leased to a local authority.

The ownership of a national monument determines a range of subsequent requirements and obligations. It is important to introduce a mechanism whereby an agreement can be reached as to who has ownership of a national monument, thereby confirming any subsequent matters, such as responsibility for the day-to-day management of the monument.

Finally, the amendment to section 76 is a technical amendment to correct a grammatical error.