Heritage Laws, Protection and Conservation in Ireland

In recent years globalisation has resulted in identity and individuality becoming much more important for many nations and their people. As a result heritage has become increasingly more important for those who want to retain what is unique to them and is a mark of their increasingly important and individual past. The heightened importance of our heritage is was highlighted by the prominent Carrickmines castle and more recently, Hill of Tara protests. While the efforts of these protestors is admirable, it would be interesting to know would they consider their energy might be better spend promoting and fund raising for much needed restoration and upkeep of some of our many sites that have already been saved and protected and are now in danger of being ignored. This paper will begin by looking at some of the earliest laws about buildings and later building protection and then look more closely at modern laws and our current society where laws can bend or adjust in order to try remain faithful to our heritage. As a result of this focus it will become clear that the importance of each of; heritage, the visitor and the financial benefits seems to change based on the legislation and how it can change.

Some of the earliest recorded building laws on record come from the Roman Empire, after Emperor Justinian had come to power in 527 A.D. These laws were primarily focused on the ownership of land and the buildings themselves rather than going into specific detail on protection#. Centuries later the use of the careful Romanesque and the extravagant Gothic styles of architecture across Western Europe illustrate just how much thought was being put into building, and making sure they would have a lasting presence in the landscape, at the time. Some of the earliest ideas about the protection of our heritage come from Renaissance Europe, but for more direct, concrete evidence we need to look to nineteenth century Spain where “the Novisima Recopilacion (Spanish Legal code) was the first piece of legislation to offer a generic definition of a “cultural monument” in reference from a document from 1803 bearing the seal of King Carols IV”#. Though the basis for this definition was merely based on the age of the monument, it marked a significant step in the protection of heritage monuments themselves rather than just the plundering of any treasures found within.

In Ireland our heritage monuments are protected by the National Monuments Act 1930 and Amendment Acts of 1987, 1994 and 2004. Under this Act the Sites and Monuments record was put together in an attempt to record all historic places of interests to be protected for the benefit of the state. The latest Amendment Act states the in relation to any monument listed in the sites and monuments record that “it shall not be lawful for any person to do any of the following things in relation to such national monument:

-(a) to demolish or remove it wholly or in part or to disfigure, deface, alter, or in any manner injure or interfere with it, or

-(b) to excavate, dig, plough or otherwise disturb the ground within, around, or in proximity to it, or

-(c) to renovate or restore it, or

-(d) to sell it or any part of it for exportation or to export it or any part of it”.

The specifications and outline in terms of what is considered destructive and what is not allowed is very clear in the Act. The problem with heritage protection laws in several countries, is the definition of a heritage monument and who decides what is and isn’t a monument which is worth protecting. A much more prominent problem is the lack of a body to monitor this legislation and it relies on the general public to conform and in relation to new discoveries, inform the local authorities or minister for The Environment, Heritage and Local Government. As a result many heritage sites which have not been monitored have made changes which do not conform to the National Monuments Acts. From huge irreversible changes such as farmers ploughing over sites such as ring forts to small changes such as crude electrical sockets, panels and exposed wires on church or castle walls, the primary reason the legislation of these acts is ignored is, in some way for financial gain. While interviewed several staff members at St. Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny I asked about a number of large electrical panels which had recently been installed just inside the east door, each member of staff thought that their exposed and obvious setting should have been okayed with the local authority before installation, but the general attitude was one of, it’s too late now, they’re already up. This kind of attitude is an indicator of how the protection of our heritage has become important and this is further reflected