Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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620. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if permission was given for works to be completed at a well (details supplied). [22043/18]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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622. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the recent works carried out and restricted access to a well (details supplied). [22088/18]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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623. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if a well (details supplied) is a protected site or monument; and her views on whether it is of national importance. [22089/18]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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624. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if public access can be restricted to sites of local importance such as holy wells. [22090/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 620 and 622 to 624, inclusive, together.

A report of work having taken place at the structure in question was brought to my Department’s attention last week. An official from the Department’s National Monuments Service visited the site last Friday evening to assess the situation.

I am advised that the masonry grotto structure which was built around the well in the 1940s has been removed by recent work. The well is not a recorded monument or protected structure. I am advised that the well itself remains extant as do two carved stone heads of potential medieval date: these stone heads are a recorded monument.

The National Monuments Act 1994 requires anyone carrying out works at or in relation to a recorded monument to give the Minister two months’ advance notice of the works. In addition to meeting requirements under the National Monuments Acts, any development must also be carried out in accordance with applicable planning and development legislation, for which the relevant planning authority has specific statutory responsibility.

My Department is currently examining the question of compliance with the statutory two months notice requirement referred to above, along with the report on last week’s site visit and will be following up on the matter as a priority.

Access to archaeological sites and monuments which are situated on private property is a matter for the landowners.