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

I thank the Senator for these proposals. Regarding the proposed amendments to section 27, I cannot accept these due to the limitations they would introduce. I will give an example. If a farmer has been ploughing the same field for decades and he or she makes a report of the discovery of a crop mark that may indicate the presence of an archaeological site, perhaps after a particularly dry summer, that farmer would be prevented from continuing to plough that field unless the recurrent activity was exempted, in this case the ploughing of the field. The approach that should be taken in circumstances where the ploughing should cease would be to enter the relevant particulars in the register of monuments and assign special protection if necessary.

Similar issues could arise in relation to monuments to which special protection applies. For example, a local authority may wish to reopen existing burial plots in a graveyard that is a registered monument to which special protection applies. Without powers to provide a suitable exemption, every time a plot was reopened, and some of these plots may have long since had any material of archaeological interest removed from them, a licence would be required.

While I appreciate the Senator's concerns about exemptions for certain classes of works at registered monuments, there are examples where exemptions are considered suitable and where ground disturbance or other forms of damage may be unavoidable. For these reasons, I am unable to accept the proposed amendments. I hope the Senator has a clearer understanding of the circumstances under which an exemption may or may not be considered.