Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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110. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the next opportunity will be to add Céide Fields on UNESCO's tentative list for world heritage status, considering its significance as a world-renowned heritage site and its historical evidence of Ireland's first farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24389/24]

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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In line with UNESCO advice that World Heritage Tentative Lists be reviewed and updated at least once every ten years, in January 2019, my Department launched a call for applications to a new Tentative List for Ireland. The Tentative List is an inventory of potential sites that Ireland intends to nominate for inclusion on the World Heritage List. Each site on the Tentative List must demonstrate potential Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), integrity, authenticity, long-term protection, a management frameworks, and evidence of local community and stakeholder support - all critical components of a World Heritage nomination dossier.

My Department's policy is for applications to be sponsored by the relevant local authority or key stakeholders/landowners throughout the nomination process. This is crucial in order to facilitate public consultation and wider stakeholder engagement, particularly in light of the requirement under UNESCO Operational Guidelines for participatory planning and community consultation.

The current Tentative List for Ireland was announced in 2022 and it is envisaged that the Tentative List process will be reopened for review within the next five years to allow my Department assess other sites that may demonstrate potential OUV. This may include sites on the 2010 Tentative List - such as the Céide Fields - for which applications were not submitted in 2021.

The World Heritage Unit of my Department is available at all times to advise prospective applicants on the Tentative List process.