Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his presence. I have been listening carefully to this debate. It is one that interests me greatly and our heritage and historic infrastructure up and down the country is extremely important to me and, indeed, it is the bedrock of our story as a people. It offers a link to our past as to where we come from and, of course, we must improve how we preserve and protect such sites. Unfortunately, as with many countries that emerge from the control of another, we have lost vast amounts of our historic and archaeological heritage over the last 100 years or more. No more so than in this city our built heritage is just as important as our archaeological heritage and our older sites of interest up and down the country. I can think of a number of Members of these Houses whom I know have pushed hard back against the destruction of historic sites, including Senator Norris, to name but one. As somebody who was involved in the restoration of sites of historic buildings in a previous life, it has always been something in which I take particular pride, to think of the few properties with which I was involved with over the past 20 years that are still standing today and would probably have not been if it were not for the intervention of a few clients of mine at the time.

It is unfortunately all the more prevalent at the moment, particularly as we expand our cities and towns beyond their current borders, that we often neglect to recognise that our built heritage is part of us; it is part of our story. If we do not preserve and protect it as a State, it is lost forever. It is often the old things in a community that make it a nice place in which to build a house.

If we forget about these archaeological and historical properties or artefacts or both, we can, unfortunately, lose the very reason the community was first constructed.

Turning to the Bill itself, I commend the Minister of State on his significant work in this regard, and, of course, that of the joint committee. It spent quite some time deliberating on the draft form of this Bill. The protection of these sites in these areas is of national importance and it is the responsibility of our society and the Government to ensure their longevity. This is not only so that we might learn from them but in order that future generations can visit and understand the evolution of our society and take up the baton of responsibility for these same sites. Our physical, architectural, historical and archaeological sites bind our culture together and provide for the development of our national identity. In turn, this informs the values and ideas we as a society cherish the most. This is why I emphasise my own passion for historical buildings and the impact of losing them has a profound effect in respect of the loss of our identity, culture and history.

To those who say, these buildings and artefacts are not our history, to the victor go the spoils. They are, therefore, very much ours. This heritage enhances our society and community. I think of the previous speaker's extraordinarily beautiful Georgian city, which would not be the same had it not been for the influence of our friends across the water. It is a beautiful city in places, but horribly neglected in others, much like every other city. There are, though, places where it is particularly pleasing. This is why the protection of heritage and history is so important.

The introduction of an electronic database, as provided for under the new register of monuments, which will allow the public to learn, study and visit any of the sites of historical importance in Ireland, is welcome. Indeed, this uniform approach will have a very positive impact on the number of people who will engage with the database. So much of our heritage is before us and, unfortunately, we do not know it is there. It is tremendous to see more and more sites becoming known to the public through plaques or even places to pull in on our national routes to allow people to take them in.

There are so many places that have been lost to history, like in my community. I live on a hill in Malahide, overlooking Lambay Island, which, of course, although the precise year is disputed, was where we understand the Vikings first landed. An archaeological assessment was completed on the hill where I live in the mid-1990s. Vast quantities of pottery and other items were found going back hundreds of years, if not over a thousand years. I cannot imagine that any of them have been recorded. I certainly know that the generation following mine has no idea of what is there, unless they are students of history. Things like this are important. As I said already, they also go to the very foundation of our being and why certain communities were developed in the first place.

Am I sharing my time?

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