Sir, - On January 12th we were informed by telephone from Duchas, The Heritage Service of the Department of Arts Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, that the Excavation Licence Section of Duchas would be refusing to accept or process any applications for archaeological excavation licences for a minimum period of six weeks, commencing Monday, January 17th. This was subsequently confirmed by post. We understand that this situation relates to a dramatic increase in licencing applications, primarily from development driven archaeology, but no increase in Duchas staff processing the ever-increasing applications. Only one member of Duchas staff issues excavation licences for the entire country.
This disastrous situation will have a serious impact on major building and development projects countrywide. The knock-on effect in the building industry will also be severe, possibly delaying commencement of major development projects by as much as three months. The livelihood of licensed archaeologists and their staff will suffer. We would like to make the following points:
Our heritage is protected in law by virtue of the National Monument Acts and European Conventions. Duchas is the sole government body with responsibility under the law to ensure that threats to our heritage resource are evaluated and responded to with appropriate action.
The pace of development represents the greatest threat to our heritage resource. New planning and legislation since 1988 has seen the scale of urban, rural and infra-structural projects increase to a level hardly imaginable in the 1980s.
No recruitment or facilities have been put in place at Duchas to deal with the pressure on planning and heritage concerns (yet a change in the Wildlife Act saw the recruitment/deployment of c. 71 wildlife officers).
The result of lack of staff and support systems is the complete breakdown in the ability of Duchas to perform in response to development sector requirements.
The situation is a disgrace, given that the Minister, Sile de Valera, who only recently launched two publications, Policy and Guidelines on Archaeological Excavation and Framework and Principles for the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage apparently feels that there is no onus on her to provide the essential professional service that is required by the huge upsurge in development driven archaeology.
We have great admiration and respect for the small number of archaeologists at Duchas who have attempted to administer the best service they can while the Minister ignores a vital section of her Department. It seems apparent that the Minister is unwilling to provide the most basic necessities within her own Department to protect and manage our archaeological heritage.
We strongly recommend, as archaeological consultancies and companies, that these matters are resolved immediately. - Yours, etc.,
Jacinta Kiely, for ADS Ltd, Eachtra Archaeological Projects, Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Judith Carroll Co Ltd.