MINISTER OF State at the Office of Public Works Martin Mansergh has welcomed a decision by Unesco’s world heritage committee to approve a report on State management of Skellig Michael.
“The Office of Public Works (OPW) has always maintained that the conservation work being undertaken on Skellig Michael is to the highest standard,” Dr Mansergh said.
“The OPW craftsmen and archaeologists working on site are highly experienced and have undertaken many restoration and conservation projects before,” he said.
Aspects of the OPW’s management of the world heritage site at Skellig Michael are the subject of criticism in the Unesco mission report, which was approved by the organisation’s world heritage committee in Quebec, Canada, this week.
The report was undertaken in response to concerns about State management and the OPW conservation programme.
Unesco found that while the conservation works have “dramatically” transformed the appearance of remains on the South Peak, they are “justifiable” and the “outstanding universal values” remain intact.
It recommends that a site manager be appointed to liaise with all stakeholders, that conservation work be documented in an academic publication, and that a “durable agreement” be negotiated with the Skellig ferry operators.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley, who is responsible for management policy, has published the complex’s first management plan this week and has welcomed the Unesco study as “very positive”. Dr Mansergh said that despite “criticism by a small number of concerned parties”, the Unesco findings were a “welcome validation and endorsement of the work being carried out by my office”.
“I am certain that this will, for once and for all, satisfy anyone who has had misgivings about the work being undertaken by OPW,” he said. The OPW was proud to have played a full part in preparing a management plan by the Department of the Environment, he added.
Absence of a management plan was one of the criticisms levelled by archaeologist Michael Gibbons, who maintained that serious damage had been done to the South Peak oratory, including destruction of an altar.
It was built some time between the 6th and 8th centuries when three terraces were laid out by monks on the edge of rock some 218m (715 ft) above sea level.
Unesco said that because the rationale for the conservation works by the OPW and the actual process was “largely discussed in-house”, criticisms were “inevitable” and this was exacerbated by a “lack of publication”.