Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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1931. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to deal with the growing numbers of visitors that are making their way to the Hill of Tara (details supplied); and when her Department will publish the final conservation and management plan on the national monument. [1495/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Visitor numbers are among a range of factors that need to be taken account of in considering the conservation requirements of all our key heritage sites, including the complex of national monuments located on the Hill of Tara. An initial draft conservation management plan has been prepared for the State-owned lands at Tara and my Department is leading a working group of relevant stakeholders, including the Office of Public Works (OPW), Meath County Council, The Heritage Council and the Discovery Programme, with the objective of progressing, completing and publishing the updated plan as soon as possible.

The new plan will focus on conservation issues and will inform a list of priority conservation and site management actions to be implemented over its lifetime. The OPW conducts ongoing monitoring of visitor numbers to the site which has open access all year round and which is used in large numbers by the local community as well as by many other visitors. This data will assist with the development of dedicated actions and appropriate management structures to deal with visitors while also ensuring the conservation of the site. The plan will be finalised once all necessary information has been collated and relevant stakeholders’ input has been taken into account. I understand that visits to the site last year were under 200,000.