Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
424. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Finance his views on the rise in interest rates in recent months; if he is aware of the concerns of savers who are disappointed that the interest rate given on deposit accounts is not increasing in line with interest rates rises on mortgage accounts; if he will raise this issue with the Central Bank; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18199/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
Is mór an onóir domsa Bille na hOidhreachta Stairiúla agus Seandálaíochta, 2023 a cur faoi bhráid na Dála. I am pleased and honoured to bring the Historical and Archaeological Heritage Bill 2023 before the House today. This important Bill provides a new framework to modernise and bolster the law that provides for the protection of our archaeological and related heritage. I look forward to the deliberations of the House over the coming days. l am certain everybody present here today is aware that Irish heritage is an important cornerstone of our society. It tells us the story of the development of our people, inspires public understanding, and teaches us an appreciation of the past. To reiterate what I expressed during the Bill's passage through Seanad Éireann, at an international level Irish heritage provides our people with a special uniqueness that many states admire. At a national level our heritage unites us. It nurtures a sense of Irish kinship and is often a source of great pride. At a local level, which many consider to be the most important level of all, heritage has the power to create and sustain entire communities. These are some of the reasons the law that protects our historic heritage is of such great importance.
The need for legislative reform in this area has long been acknowledged and the origin of the Bill can be traced back to an expert advisory group, which in 2009 recommended to the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that the National Monuments Acts be replaced with revised legislation. While this can be considered the origin of the Bill, the need for complete revision of the legislation has long been recognised and previous work on legislative proposals was undertaken during the early 2000s. Comprehensive work, research and consultation has taken place over the years since the expert advisory group's recommendation, and following a very useful pre-legislative scrutiny process, Government approval of the Bill was received at the start of this year.
The Bill's passage through Seanad Éireann saw some very valuable engagement, and the culmination of the debates in that House is more than ten proposed amendments that I hope to bring forward on Committee Stage, pending discussion and drafting work with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. At its most fundamental level, the purpose of the Bill is to help protect and conserve our historic and archaeological heritage. In one way or another, the different principles underpinning the Bill all lead back to this critical purpose. Various elements of the Bill will also help realise some of the actions set out in Heritage Ireland 2030, our national heritage plan.
Part 1 states that our historic heritage is a non-renewable resource of great cultural and scientific importance. The protection of historic heritage in its original location or in situ should always be the first choice considered, and the Bill ensures there is a presumption in favour of this.
Monuments and archaeological sites are among the most significant examples of our historic heritage and Part 2 will revise and modernise the existing law, that being the National Monuments Acts, which have provided the legal basis for the protection of monuments for nearly 100 years. Part 2 provides for the protection of newly discovered monuments of classes to be set out in regulations, a key innovation when compared with the existing law. As currently drafted, the Bill provides for regulations that will set out classes of different structures and sites that are of archaeological interest, and these will become known as prescribed monuments. This approach will ensure newly discovered archaeological sites are afforded immediate legal protection in a manner similar to that already provided for archaeological objects or historic wrecks, which are automatically protected without a need for formal designation or registration. Following the debate in the Seanad, it is my intention to bring forward an amendment on Committee Stage in this House to ensure the regulations need not be restricted solely to sites of archaeological interest while continuing to ensure the provision is workable and reasonable by requiring that only categories appropriate to be prescribed monuments are included.
For the first time, a statutory reporting scheme for finds of monuments is to be introduced. In general, where a person finds, or believes he or she has found, a prescribed monument, he or she will have to make a report to the Minister or a member of An Garda Síochána. A 72-hour time limit is provided for making these reports. However alternative time periods may be set out in regulations where appropriate.
A new register of monuments will be established to replace several designation and registration systems in existence under the existing law. In accordance with criteria to be set out in the Bill, the Minister will be empowered to enter sites into the register of monuments if they are of heritage interest or if they belong to a class of prescribed monument. Sites so entered will then become known as registered monuments. The Bill will provide for the integration of historic wrecks into the systems for the protection of monuments, so ending the division between the two systems under existing law. There will be no loss of legal protection relative to the existing system.
Comprehensive administrative procedures are set out in Part 2, and these must be followed when making, amending or deleting entries in the register. A statutory consultation process must take place by way of general notice in national newspapers or by direct contact with landowners, as appropriate. A written notice of the changes made to the register and the reasons for those changes must issue in a similar manner.
A default level of protection will be applied to prescribed and registered monuments, and this is a crucial point. It will mean that works to or at a monument cannot be carried out lawfully other than under and in accordance with a licence or unless a valid notice of the works is submitted and a three-month notice period has elapsed. Where a notice for proposed works is received, the Minister will have powers to apply a higher level of legal protection to a registered monument, causing the notice procedure to be no longer available. In such cases, works can only be carried out lawfully under a licence. In addition, even where the Minister does not decide to apply the higher level of protection, he or she may impose certain conditions regarding the carrying out of the notified works.
Registered monuments in the ownership of the Minister or a local authority will be automatically subject to the higher level of legal protection, and where such monuments have been acquired under the enacted Bill, they will be known as national monuments. There will be a duty to maintain and facilitate access to national monuments and the Office of Public Works, OPW, will discharge the day-to-day aspects of this duty on behalf of the Minister.
The Bill also provides for by-law making powers that can be applied to national monuments, as defined. A new fixed-payment notice system can be used to enforce by-laws, with corresponding powers to issue on-the-spot fines. This will provide the OPW and local authorities with effective powers that can be readily enforced at national monuments. I stress that this by-law making power will apply only to national monuments, as defined, that is to say, registered monuments owned by the Minister or a local authority under the enacted Bill. It will not be available for other monuments, such as those on privately owned lands.
All these measures combine to make Part 2 a central pillar of the Bill, which link back to its overall purpose, namely, the protection and conservation of our historic heritage. The House might also note that the provisions in the Bill relating to monuments are to complement and do not in any way replace the law relating to protected structures of architectural interest found under the Planning and Development Act or the wider role of heritage protection in the planning system.
The European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, or Valletta convention, is often considered the foundation text for archaeological heritage management in Europe. While the primary purposes of the convention have been built into the Bill, following on from discussions in the Seanad, the desire for additional references to the convention was evident and, as mentioned, I intend to bring forward the necessary amendments on Committee Stage to provide for this.
Part 3 relates to the 1972 UNESCO convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. This convention provides for the globally recognised system of world heritage properties, of which Ireland currently has two: Brú na Bóinne and Sceilg Mhichíl. For the first time, the term "world heritage property" will be introduced into Irish law, thus strengthening the legal standing of the use of the term in development plans adopted by planning authorities. The current policy of ensuring nominations of world heritage properties takes place based upon a partnership approach with local communities is also given statutory effect under Part 3.
Part 4 relates to archaeological objects and, with limited exceptions, references to "the Minister" under Part 4 will mean the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media and matters relating to the operation of Part 4 will fall under the remit of her Department. Part 4 provides for State ownership of archaeological objects with no known owner and removes some ambiguity found in the existing law by making it clear that owners of land on which archaeological objects are found are not counted as "known owners". Where the owner of an archaeological object is known, the State will be given the power to acquire the object on payment of appropriate compensation. As is currently the case under existing law, objects falling within the definition of an "archaeological object" will be legally protected through a licensing requirement for their alteration, and all finds of archaeological objects must be reported to the National Museum of Ireland.
Part 4 also provides the important provisions to allow for the ratification of two significant international treaties, the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
