The Heritage Council's function is to promote interest, education, knowledge
and pride in, and facilitate the appreciation and enjoyment of the national
heritage, co-operate with public authorities, educational bodies and other organizations
and persons in the promotion of the functions of the Council, and promote the
co-ordination of all activities relating to the functions of the Council. The
Heritage Council may make recommendations to the Minister for Arts, Heritage,
the Gaeltacht and the Islands (AHGI) on any matter relating to the Council's
functions. The Council is also a statutory planning consultee under the Planning
Acts. The Council has a complementary role to the other state agencies involved
in Heritage, such as Dúchas the Heritage Service, and the other sections
of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, and the National
Museum of Ireland; and is a member of the Council of Cultural Institutions.
The organizational structure consists of the Heritage Council, with its Chair,
and its members who are appointed by the Minister for a term of five years.
Four Standing Committees on archaeology, architecture, wildlife and inland waterways
are mandated by the Heritage Act. They are made up of members of the Heritage
Council, who chair by rotation, three
Ministerial appointees, and co-optees. Four additional committees have been
established, dealing with Museums and Archives, Education and Awareness, Audit
and Finance and the Marine. The Council is responsible for all major strategic
and financial matters, structural development, procedures and performance review,
whilst the committees perform functions delegated by the Council and advise
the Council on strategy and actions in their functional areas. Working Groups
carry out specific time-limited tasks for Council or Committees.
The permanent staff consists of a Chief Executive and professional staff including
an archaeologist, architect, ecologist, marine biologist, planner, museums officer
and archives officer, education and communications officer, grants officer,
personnel officer, a financial controller, grants administrator and five support
staff.
The first Council served from 1995-2000 and the current Council will serve
until 2005 (also see Eogan, this volume). The medium-term strategy of the organization
is developed in the form of a five-year plan (Heritage Council 2001) covering
the years 2001-5, which is agreed by the Minister for AHGI, and has been developed
within the context of the National Heritage Plan (NHP) which is due to be published
by the Minister in 2002. The Council's plan lays out a programme of activities
and includes indicative funding targets. On the basis of this plan each professional
officer, in consultation with the relevant committee, produces and implements
an annual work plan. The organisation's funding comes from two sources. Administrative
expenses, 12-6% of total expenditure, is funded from the exchequer. All other
funding comes from the National Lottery.
In 2002 the Council has a total budget of €11-089 million, with €1-862
million for archaeology. As the staff structure is very small the organization
attempts to focus on strategic issues and commissions work from a network of
consultants. The organizational challenge is to assess priorities against organizational
resources and capabilities, leverage these capabilities to coordinate the activities
of the network of consultants and local authority heritage officers (see below),
manage the knowledge of the network and disseminate it widely to influence public
policy and public opinion to achieve the aims of the organization and its stakeholders.
In partnership with local authorities the Council has facilitated the appointment
of heritage officers to 18 local authorities. These are part-funded by the Council
and the local authority. Heritage officers are employees of local authorities
but the Heritage Council has a level of influence and control over their activities
and direction. The Heritage Council co-ordinates and provides support for the
Heritage Officer Network.
The function of heritage officers is to promote enhanced levels of understanding,
conservation and preservation by improving the status and perception of heritage
in their local area. Heritage officers gain knowledge and expertise of each
heritage discipline through the Heritage Officers Training and Development Programme.
They promote the policies of the Heritage Council in tandem with addressing
the needs of their local authority and they are, for example, involved in the
formulation of Local Heritage Plans (LHP) in the context of the National Heritage
Plan. LHPs are intended as agreed, realistic and costed plans which establish
how a local authority, in association with its partners, will identify, protect,
preserve, conserve and manage the heritage of its county. They generally cover
a five-year period, identifying action priorities and including a mechanism
for review and evaluation. LHP Guidelines have been prepared by the Heritage
Council with full input from the existing heritage officers. To date, LHPs have
been adopted by Dublin City and Offaly, Laois and Sligo Co. Councils.
One of the Council's primary functions is to propose policies to government.
To date the Council has proposed policies on The Future of Ireland's Inland
Waterways, Agriculture and the National Heritage, State Sector Expenditure on
Heritage, The Role of the Heritage Council in the Planning Process, Forestry
and the National Heritage, Urban Archaeology and the National Heritage, Heritage
Awareness in Ireland and Integrated Policies for Ireland's Landscape. Over the
medium term it is intended to propose policies on marine and coastal heritage,
freshwater ecology and water quality, geology, industrial heritage, archives,
thatching, monitoring and arresting the destruction of historic places, conservation
of heritage buildings in public ownership, the conservation of rare breeds,
interaction with non-governmental organizations and access to historic buildings.
The Heritage Council has developed a methodology for Heritage Appraisal (HA)
of plans, policies and programmes. A HA helps to ensure that the full scope
of heritage considerations is dealt with comprehensively and consistently throughout
the preparation of any plan or programme. It is an iterative process, intended
to help to modify a plan or programme as it is developed, in order to avoid
or reduce harmful effects on heritage and to maximize potential benefits for
heritage. To date HA has been used to examine County Development Plans, Local
Area Plans and a number of road schemes have been assessed as well as the National
Road Authority's guidelines on project management.
Since 1999 the Council has been involved in the development of a strategy
for managing the cultural and natural landscape (Heritage Council 1999). This
has been facilitated through the establishment of the Landscape Working Party
that has had representation from government departments and agencies, local
government, the universities and stakeholder groups. This group commissioned
Environmental Resource Management to carry out the Co. Clare Landscape Characterisation,
which lead to the development of a policy document, Towards Integrated Policies
for Ireland's Landscape, which was submitted to the Minster for AHGI in 2000.
This year the Council intends to proceed with the commissioning of the second
stage Co. Clare landscape assessment. The Council is also involved in a European
collaboration involving 12 projects in 10 countries (Germany, Sweden, Italy,
Denmark, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, England, Ireland and Wales), European
Pathways to Cultural Landscapes, which is funded by the Culture 2000 programme
of the European Union (see www.pcl-eu.de). The main goal of the project is to
explore opportunities for public participation in their local cultural landscapes
in poor areas of Europe, and to share experiences and approaches to the subject
across the European Union. In the Irish Dowris Project, which is a partnership
between the Heritage Council and the Discovery Programme, Eoin Grogan is applying
Historic Landscape Characterisation to a study area in the Irish midlands (FIGURE
1).
The Council has been advocating the use of conservation planning in an Irish
context (see Kerr 2000 and Heritage Lottery Fund 1998). Over the last few years
the council has facilitated conservation plans for the Romanesque doorways and
associated buildings at Clonfert, Co. Galway and Freshford, Co. Kilkenny, as
well as the Early Christian monastic site at Durrow, and Lemanaghan Co. Offaly,
Portlaw, Co. Wa-terford, Bear Island, Co. Cork and a number of monuments in
Kilkenny City and county including the Bishop's Palace, the City Walls, the
16th-century buildings of Rothe House, St Mary's Medieval parish church (FIGURE
2) and the deserted medieval town of Newtown Jerpoint.
Grants
The Heritage Council grant-aids projects in six areas, repairs to historic
buildings, local heritage, museums and archives, publications, wildlife, and
archaeological research and dissemination projects. In the past archaeological
research projects have looked at the development of techniques to radiocarbon-date
cremated human bone, dental anthropology, 19th-century pottery industries, the
geological origin of stone used in the Boyne Valley passage tombs, the use of
hydraulic lime in the medieval period, as well as a number of excavation publication
projects based in National University of Ireland (NUI) Cork and Galway which
have focused on synthesising the urban excavation data of Cork and Galway.
The Galway Excavations Project, for example, was established by Elizabeth
FitzPatrick and Paul Walshe in 1999 in the Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway.
The publication project is concerned with the excavations carried out in Galway
City since the 1980s. Galway has experienced intensive development since 1987
following the initiation of the Urban Renewal Act, 1986. During the period 1987-1998,
72 licensed excavations took place in the city, conducted by some 25 different
directors.
The project will produce a monograph detailing every excavation undertaken
in Galway City during the period 1987-1998. Within this format it is intended
to organize excavations thematically, such as sites dealing with the town defences
or habitation. A single finds catalogue is planned which will indicate the context
of each find with an historical overview and discussion of the excavated data.
The project is funded by the Heritage Council, and is supported by Galway Corporation
and the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Publications
Since 1996 the Council has produced 44 publications, ranging from reports
on The Introduction of a Standards and Accreditation Scheme for Irish Museums,
An Assessment of Farming Prescriptions Under the Rural Environment Protection
Scheme in the Uplands of the Burren Karstic Region, Co. Clare, to Review of
Urban Archaeology Research. Most publications may be consulted on the Council's
website at <www.heritagecouncil.ie>. The Coun-cil has also grant-aided
96 non-Council publications since 1998 under the publications grant scheme.
The activities of the organization are extremely broad and the remainder of
this article will survey the archaeological activities, which focus on three
main strategic areas: managing the archaeological resource, archaeological practice
and research and dissemination.
Managing the archaeological resource
The archaeological resource, and the landscape of which it forms a part, are
the primary material resource of Ireland, as well as a primary cultural resource
which contributes to the distinctiveness and sense of place enjoyed by everyone
in Ireland and the millions of people who visit Ireland each year. The archaeological
resource is coming under greater threat in Ireland today than at any other time
in History. The Heritage Council recognizes the need to preserve both the material
and intellectual archaeological resource. As a first stage in accomplishing
this the Council embarked on a strategy of acquiring widespread baseline data
and information on the current condition of and threats to the archaeological
heritage to inform strategy. This information was intended to replace the largely
tacit and anecdotal data that had prevailed before this.
The rate of site loss and erosion
Examination of a sample of 112 stone monuments of all periods in 14 counties
by Pavía & Bolton (2001) concluded that 11% showed strong structural
damage, involving a danger of collapse, 22% showed strong structural decay and
27% showed mild structural damage. About one-third of the monuments with carved
sculptural detail showed significant loss of carved detail. This is particularly
affecting Irish Romanesque sculpture (FIGURE 5).
Combating site loss
The Council is continuing the survey work on monument loss and stone monument
decay and has initiated research on earthwork management; identifying the best
means of physically safeguarding the remaining earthwork monuments in Ireland,
including monument complexes and medieval deserted towns. It is intended to
translate this research into a series of best practice guidelines for farmers,
other landowners, agricultural advisors and landscape managers in relation to
how best to manage earthworks.
Over the next 15 years the numbers of full-time framers is forecast to reduce
dramatically (Downey 2001: 9-10) which will lead to a large-scale reorganization
of the Irish landscape with a move to smaller numbers of larger farm holdings.
In recent years the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS), which forms
part of the Rural Development Regulations and is part-funded by the European
Commission, has been developed to encourage farming practices which reflect
increasing concern for conservation, landscape protection and wider environmental
problems (Department of Agriculture and Food 1999: 2). The Council is investigating
ways of providing greater protection to the archaeological resource through
agri-environmental schemes such as the REPS.
In recent years there has been an international trend towards grading or evaluating
aspects of the archaeological heritage. This has sprung from the need to prioritize
protection and resources towards the conservation/protection of monuments of
recognized value. The Irish National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (carried
out by Dúchas) has, for example, made evaluation a core aspect of its
work. The Heritage Council is now exploring the appropriateness of grading archaeological
monuments in Ireland. The Council's objectives are to ascertain the appropriateness,
at this time, of developing and implementing the parameters and the applications
of grading schemes for monuments to ascertain in what particular circumstances
grading may be appropriate and what criteria might be useful for evaluation,
as well as the impact grading schemes might have on monument protection, conservation
and preservation.
Another approach has been to communicate directly with the development sector.
To accomplish this guidelines were prepared for the Heritage Council by the
ICOMOS Irish Committee. The aim was to produce a better understanding of the
needs of archaeology in Ireland and to improve co-operation between developers
(with their consultant archaeologists, architects, engineers and planners) and
the statutory authorities in protecting the archaeological heritage. The guidelines
are intended to be complementary to the published policies of the Minister for
AHGI on the protection of the archaeological heritage. This initiative was supported
by a media campaign which included articles in the business press (e.g. Mount
2001) dealing with archaeology and development.
Archaeological practice
Education
The Council, in Partnership with the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland,
is moving towards the development of a strategy for continuing professional
development (CPD) in Irish archaeology. This is partly aimed at moving from
mode
1. knowledge production, with its separation of knowledge producers and consumers,
to mode
2. knowledge production, with its emphasis on knowledge production in the
context of application (Gibbons et al. 1994). This is a matter of urgency as
the scale of infrastructure development has been placing an increasing burden
on the profession as a whole (FIGURE 6). The first stage has been the commissioning
of a profile of the archaeology profession and a study of archaeological education
and training resources in the Republic of Ireland (CHL 2002). The second stage
is to survey third-level courses and other courses or systems of archaeological
training for archaeologists and associated specialists in Ireland; to survey
the recipient bodies of the graduates from these institutions, seeking their
views of the quality of the graduates, courses, etc.; and to analyse the current
competence requirements of Irish archaeology and identify any gaps, areas for
improvement, etc. The study is also examining the projected human resource requirements
for the profession, and particularly for the management of licensed excavation
work required to deliver the National Development Plan on a year-by-year basis
over the next 5 years and beyond. This study has estimated that 650 archaeologists
are currently working in Ireland, north and south, and has estimated that the
demand will rise to between 880-1100 over the medium term to 2007.
It is hoped that the development of a strategy for CPD will contribute to
addressing some of the issues raised by Lambrick & Spandl's (2000) report
on Urban archaeological practice in Ireland, Johnson's (2000) report Urban archaeology
research and the study by Lambrick & Doyle (2000) on Archaeological assessment
and monitoring procedures in Ireland.
Research
The unpublished excavations survey 1930-97 The cycle of archaeological data
acquisition and its synthesis into useful knowledge has been badly affected
by the unprecedented upsurge in archaeological work of the last decade. The
Council commissioned Oxford Archaeology to survey rapidly the unpublished excavation
reports in Ireland from 1930 to 1997, and assess their significance and quality
(Doyle et al. 2002). The report noted 3168 reports during the period of which
1353 were noted as unpublished. The report assessed the significance of the
reports classifying them on a scale of 1-5 (1 = national significance and 5
= no significance). 421 reports were placed in classes 1 and 2. This framework
is now being used by the Council to develop initiatives to encourage the cycle
of archaeological synthesis and knowledge creation and dissemination through
appropriate media. In 2002 the Council is funding 8 projects involving 165 individual
sites through the excavations initiative.
The Discovery Programme
The Discovery Programme (DP) is wholly funded by the Heritage Council (see
Waddell 1997: 513-18 and Eogan this volume), and the Council makes key appointments
to the Directorate of the DP, including the Chair, Prof. Michael Ryan. The Heritage
Council has approved a three-year plan for the DP that will see it through 2004.
The Council is also co-operating with DP in a European Project (see above) which
is developing common approaches to landscape research sand management amongst
projects in 10 member states.
Conclusion
Over the medium term the main challenge facing archaeology in Ireland will
be to stretch and leverage itself to mitigate the threats presented to the archaeological
resource, and to make the most of the enormous opportunities for knowledge creation
presented by large-scale infrastructural expansion. To date the Heritage Council
has played a role in quantifying the scale of the challenge and the opportunity
it presents, and providing advice to Government on structural and procedural
reforms. To some extent archaeology in Ireland, and throughout Europe, has become
a victim of its own success, as investigation has become a routine part of the
development process. This has allowed archaeologists to wield considerable resources
and influence in the development process. Yet it has become evident to many,
including government and the commercial sector, that these increases in resources
are not leading to a commensurate increase in knowledge. At the same time, the
focus on development-led archaeology has obscured the need to manage Ireland's
sites and monuments in the face of large-scale landscape reorganization. If
archaeology in Ireland is to maintain its privileged position into the future,
then it must quickly rise to the challenge of structural reorganization and
professional development so that the advances made under the Celtic Tiger economy
are consolidated.
Article published in: Antiquity 76 (2002), 485-492.
References
CHL. 2002. Future demand for archaeologists. Unpublished report for the Institute
of Archaeologists of Ireland and the Heritage Council. Dublin: CHL Consultants.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & FOOD 1991. Rural Environment Protection Scheme.
Agri-environmental specifications, revised 1 January 1999. Dublin: Government
of Ireland.
DOWNEY, L. 2001. The future science &• technology needs of the agricultural
& food industries and rural communities. Inaugural Lecture 20 November 2001,
in celebration of the Centenary of the Faculty of Agriculture, University College
Dublin. Dublin: Teagasc.
DOYLE, I.W., D. IENNINGS, I. MACDERMOTT, D. CHALLINOR & G. LAMBR1CK. 2002.
Unpublished excavations in the Republic of Ireland 1930-1997. Kilkenny: The
Heritage Council.
LAMBRICK, G. & I.W. DOYLE. 2000. Review of archaeological assessment and
monitoring procedures in Ireland. Kilkenny: The Heritage Council.
GIBBONS, M., C. LIMOGES, H. NOWOTNY, S. SCHWARTZMAN, P. SCOTT & M. TROW.
1994. The new production of knowledge. London: Sage.
HERITAGE COUNCIL. 1999. Policies and priorities for Ireland's landscape. Conference
papers. Tullamore, Co. Offaly, Ireland, April 1999. Kilkenny: The Heritage Council.
2001. The plan 2001-2005. Kilkenny: The Heritage Council.
HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND. 1998. Conservation plans for historic places.
JOHNSON, G. 2000. Review of urban archaeology research. Kilkenny: The Heritage
Council.
KERR, J.S. 2000. Conservation plan. A guide to the preparation of conservation
plans for places of European Cultural Significance. 5th edition. Australia:
The National Trust.
LAMBRICK, G. & K. SPANDL. 2000. Urban archaeological practice in Ireland.
Kilkenny: The Heritage Council.
MOUNT, C. 2001. Property development and archaeology, Business and the Environment,
Business and Finance Supplement, March 2001: 25.
O'SULLIVAN, M., D.J. O'CONNOR & L. KENNEDY. 2001. Archaeological features
at risk. A survey measuring the recent destruction of Ireland's archaeological
heritage. Kilkenny: The Heritage Council.
PAVI'A, S. & J. BOLTON. 2000. Stone monument decay study 2000. Kilkenny:
The Heritage Council.
WADDELL, ]. 1997. Ireland's Discovery Programme: progress and prospect, Antiquity
71: 513-18.
Pictures
The area between the Shannon and Little Brosna
Rivers in the south Midlands,
Co. Offaly, showing major landscape changes in the 19th century AD.
The main goal of this project is to explore opportunities for public participation
in their local cultural landscapes, and to share experiences and approaches
on the subject across the European Union. The project is a joint venture involving
12 projects in 10 countries (Germany, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic,
Estonia, Finland, England, Ireland and Wales), making this the largest project
funded under the Culture 2000 programme.
The Irish component (The Dowris Project) addresses the assessment of the later
prehistoric landscape of the central Midlands of Ireland covering an area of
about 9000 sq. km. The principal goals of the work are to develop an accessible
understanding of the development of later prehistoric landscape and society
in this region, using a form of Historic Landscape Characterisation.
Phase 1 consisted of a pilot study (see above) that was carried out in the
area around the findplace of the eponymous Late Bronze Age Dowris hoard in Co.
Offaly. Using a combination of new and existing digital data the study reconstructed
broad landscape changes from the end of the last Ice Age to the present. (Rebecca
Boyd, The Dowris Project, PCL, The Discovery Programme.)
The vandalism to the tomb of Elias Shee (c.
1613) at St. Mary's Graveyard, Kilkenny.
The site of a removed trivallate Early Christian ringfort.
(Photo O'Sullivan et al. 2001.)
Graph showing cumulative destruction over time of the monuments
included in the Archaeological Inventory. (From O'Sullivan et al. 2001.)
The Romanesque carvings at Ardmore Cathedral, Co. Waterford are
decaying. (Photo Pavia & Bolton 2001.)
Graph illustrating the exponential increase in archaeological
excavations in Ireland to 1997.
In the year to October 2001 there were over 1069 excavation licences issued.
(From Lambrick & Doyle 2000.)