Sir, - Our countryside is being torn apart by the teeth of the Celtic Tiger. There is an unprecedented increase in all types of construction and the Government has prepared a National Plan which proposes improvements to the country's infrastructure. If all of this is to become a reality there will have to be archaeological work, including excavation, done in advance of construction. In order to comply with the National Monuments Acts 1930-1994, archaeological excavation must be licensed by Duchas/The Heritage Service.
Would the various Government departments and the construction industry please note that archaeologists have just been informed by Duchas that owing to ". . . the serious backlog . . . compounded by the inability to update our essential database or to maintain our archive of applications and incoming reports . . . no Excavation Licence Applications will be processed from Monday, January 17th, 2000, for a period of seven to eight weeks. Furthermore, we would recommend that no licence applications are forwarded to this office until further notice."
This essentially means that proposed developments requiring archaeological excavation, testing or monitoring are "on hold" because the relevant department cannot cope with the workload. Perhaps the Minister with responsibility for this department could provide it with the necessary resources so that Government policies can be implemented and the legal requirements met? - Yours, etc., Celie O'Rahilly,
Chapel Hill, Castleconnell, Co Limerick.