Yesterday marked the celebration of the winter solstice at Newgrange, built to align with sunrise on the shortest day of the year. This marks the turning point of the year and the cultural achievement of the society who built this monument more than 5,000 years ago.
Today it has become a central part of the celebration of the Christmas season in Ireland.
The continuing social relevance of the past is also illustrated by the debate about the decade of commemoration, particularly of 1916.
The Government has recently set out its vision to mark the 1916 Rising, committing €28 million to this programme. The success of the Irish tourism strategy is built on the richness of our cultural heritage; in 2014, the return from visitors increased foreign earnings by €400 million.
Some 20 per cent of visitor expenditure is closely attributable to the historic environment. For everyone living in Ireland, heritage is literally all around us; it is what makes the places we live in distinctive and different.
"The whole landscape a manuscript", as John Montague writes in A Lost Tradition.
But such social valorisation of the past must be put in the context of what can only be described as government neglect of cultural heritage.
In the process of recovery from global and national economic recession, decreases in government expenditure were to be expected.
Priority has been placed, rightly, on protecting spending seen as central to human needs.
But cultural heritage appears to have been targeted for excessive cuts.
This has been brought into focus by the difficulties faced by the National Museum of Ireland in maintaining its services against a 40 per cent drop in exchequer funding since 2008.
The National Monuments Service in the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has a budget 50 per cent less than in 2010.
The Heritage Council plays an important role in providing independent advice to the Government.
It provides support for communities, infrastructure, heritage organisations and key partners, such as the local authorities. The Heritage Council’s Oireachtas grant collapsed by 70 per cent from 2008 to 2013.
Cuts at cultural institutions
Similar cutbacks have been suffered by other national cultural institutions. The sector has adapted very well to its reduced circumstances and continues to play a central role in Ireland’s recovery.
For example, research carried out for The Economic Evaluation of Ireland's Historic Environment Report, published by the Heritage Council in 2012, showed that the historic environment supports more than 35,000 jobs across Ireland.
But funding cuts have had knock-on consequences.
Current knowledge of monuments such as Newgrange and Knowth in the Boyne Valley was built on research, benefiting from the Royal Irish Academy’s archaeological research grant scheme.
This scheme is administered by the academy through the standing committee for archaeology, on behalf of the National Monuments Service. Owing to cutbacks in the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, this scheme has decreased by 65 per cent since 2007, now amounting to an annual total of €70,000.
The Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research programme (Instar) was launched in 2008 to maximise the research and knowledge return from investment in archaeological excavation during the Celtic Tiger years.
Established with a budget of €1million a year, it now limps along on a budget of €40,000.
But even more regrettable than the scale of the cuts is that they appear to have been made without any coherent strategy or awareness of long-term consequences.
The last National Heritage Plan was published in 2002. The recent announcement that national cultural institutions had received €2million in extra funding seems to be a reaction to publicity about the implications of cuts rather than being based on any vision about the central role of these institutions in Irish cultural life.
The profile of the staff across the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and related areas, such as the Office of Public Works, indicates that within a couple of years there will be a significant loss of knowledge and expertise.
Key positions unfilled at the Heritage Council mean it is unable to fully carry out its role.
Where will expertise come from in future, for example, to conserve monuments?
Inertia
Ironically, this inertia in heritage policy is occurring at a time when there are important European policy initiatives and funding support.
The EU Council recently concluded that cultural heritage was a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe.
In July 2014 the European Commission adopted a communication that paves the way for an integrated approach to cultural heritage.
There are a range of research, training and education programmes to support this objective.
However, these require a commitment of resources at national level. Our ability to participate in European policy and funding, to support North-South collaboration, for example, is lessened by the lack of commitment to cultural heritage.
The Government’s vision for marking the 1916 Rising looks forward as well as back.
Communities have shown resilience and innovation, and know the value of investment in our heritage.
There is a need for political leadership in this area at a time when a disconnect with communities could not be clearer.
A good place to start would be Government commitment to a national heritage policy.
Gabriel Cooney is professor of Celtic archaeology at UCD’s school of archaeology. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a board member of the Heritage Council and chairman of the Historic Monuments Council of Northern Ireland