Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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My Department is not currently considering the standard referred to and would need to review its content and legal standing before taking any steps in relation to it. Ireland’s policy on archaeological heritage is based on the provisions of the 1992 European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (the Valletta Convention) and this informs all relevant policies and legislation.

Ireland has had on a longstanding basis two key Government policy and guidance documents addressing archaeological standards, the Framework and Principles for Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (dealing with approaches to reconciling archaeological heritage and development and which states clearly that there should be a presumption in favour of preservation in-situ and that it should be the first option to be considered) and the Policy and Guidelines on Archaeological Excavation, which provides a policy framework for the statutory system of licensing archaeological excavation.

Section 3 of the recently enacted Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 will (when commenced) require the relevant authorities exercising functions under the Act to take due account of the principle “that the first option to be considered should be the protection in situ of historic heritage and that there ought to be a presumption in favour of this option”. The Act will also provide a clear statutory basis for the Minister with responsibility for heritage to engage with and support other bodies in developing standards and best practice. As matters stand the National Monuments Service is actively engaged with the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland in regard to assisting that body in developing a set of an updated and comprehensive professional standards for archaeological practice.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The existing National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014, and the Planning and Development Act 2000, currently enable compliance with the Valletta Convention with its aim of the protection of archaeological heritage as a source of the European collective memory and as an instrument for historical and scientific study.

The more recently enacted Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, (HAHMP), will further strengthen such compliance, and in some cases may be interpreted as being even more comprehensive and encompassing than the Valletta Convention in some areas.

Work has now been initiated across a number of areas within the National Monuments Service of my department to enable the provisions of the HAHMP to be implemented, and this work will be ongoing.

It is important to note that planning law will remain crucial to ensuring the integration of archaeological heritage into the planning and development system, which will be addressed in the new Planning and Development Bill 2023 just as comprehensively as under existing planning law

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The EU Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy) establishes a common framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. River basin management planning, structured in six-year cycles, along with its associated Programme of Measures, is the tool prescribed by the Directive for achieving these aims.

Building on the successful elements of the first River Basin Management Plan cycle, the Government introduced new high-level structures for implementation of the WFD as part of the second-cycle river basin management plan that covered the period 2018-2021. These new implementation bodies are supported by regional local authority structures, comprising of 5 regional committees, which drive the delivery of supporting measures at local level. These structures are further supported by the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), which acts as a local government national shared service and is funded by my Department.

A significant element of the engagement by the Local Authorities in implementing the WFD is through nitrates inspections. Within the local authority sector, the local authority National Agricultural Inspection Programme was established to undertake agricultural inspection and enforcement under the Good Agricultural Practice Regulations with guidance and oversight provided by the EPA. To fully resource the programme, the Department is funding 57 local authority staff.

Other initiatives under the third cycle RBMP include new agri-environmental schemes under the CAP Strategic Plan which will invest €2.9billion in environmental protection measures administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. These schemes have been designed to contribute to water policy environmental objectives, as far as practically possible. Also, a Water European Innovation Partnership (EIP) project, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, has been specifically designed to target water protection measures based on risk (€60million) on 15,000 farms. It is specifically focused on reducing losses of phosphorus, nitrogen, sediment and, where relevant, pesticides to water from agricultural lands.

To address hydromorphological pressures on natural water a new national restoration programme (improvements to river habitats) is being developed to mitigate the negative impact of past construction in or near water bodies. The third cycle RBMP will initially aim to mitigate up to 5% (257) of the 2,000-7,000 problem barriers identified by Inland Fisheries Ireland to date. A minimum investment of approximately €110 million is anticipated.

My Department is currently preparing the third River Basin Management Plan for Ireland, to cover the WFD third cycle, and which will be published shortly. A key commitment in the Programme for Government, a new revised and strengthened River Basin Management Plan is a strategic plan that will outline the national policies and high-level goals that will protect and restore our natural waters, and will advance Ireland’s commitment to the implementation of the WFD.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The National Landscape Strategy was devised in 2014 to give effect to the European Landscape Convention. Implementation of the National Landscape Strategy is implicit in many of the actions taken across the built and natural heritage sphere. The current work being undertaken across Government in the context of the land use review will supplant and overtake that strategy.

In parallel, my Department has made very substantial progress on issues of habitat and wildlife protection, which are tied closely to landscape. In particular, I would emphasise the recently launched 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan, which sets the national biodiversity agenda for the period 2023-2030 and aims to deliver the transformative changes required to the ways in which we value and protect nature. This, along with the Nature Restoration Law ratified by the European Parliament this week, will continue to support the delivery of national nature, water, landscape and climate objectives, while at the same time realising co-benefits for value creation in rural economies and communities.

The key enabling action in the National Landscape Strategy is the completion of a National Landscape Character Assessment, which would complement the Local Character Assessments already prepared by Local Authorities. This is also a National Policy Objective set out in the National Planning Framework (NPF). As part of the ongoing NPF Review, my Department is currently considering options for how best to carry out such an assessment.