Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans to protect the heritage of Kells Priory in County Kilkenny and develop it as a cultural site; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44513/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The Augustinian priory at Kells, Co. Kilkenny, is a national monument in my guardianship, as Minister, under the National Monuments Acts 1930-2004. As such, it enjoys the full range of protections afforded by those Acts, including a requirement that any works at, or in proximity to it, are subject to my prior written consent.

National monuments in State care are managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW). The role of the OPW includes the undertaking of conservation works at national monuments and a level of capital funding is provided by my Department to support this programme. As part of this conservation programme, excavation works were undertaken at Kells Priory on a number of occasions over the last 40 years. The findings of these excavations were detailed in a monograph, Kells Priory, Co. Kilkenny: archaeological excavations, by T. Fanning & M. Clyne, published by my Department in 2006.

I would encourage people to visit Kells Priory, which is one of the most extensive and visually impressive ruined medieval monastic complexes in Ireland and is fully accessible to the public, with car parking facilities close by. Historical information can be found at the site and on the Monuments to Visit section of the website of my Department's National Monuments Service, .