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NATIONAL MONUMENTS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1987

Type Act
Publication 1987-07-22
Last updated 2023-10-13
State Repealed superseded text
Text As published
Source Irish Statute Book
articles 27

This is the act as published. Later amendments are not folded into the text below: each one is a separate act in this repository and an entry in this law's history.

16 amending acts · 2023-10-13, HISTORIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS ACT 2023

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AN ACT TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION FOR THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBJECTS, INCLUDING PROVISION FOR THE REGULATION OF THE USE AND POSSESSION OF DETECTION DEVICES, TO MAKE PROVISION FOR THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF HISTORIC WRECKS, TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE NATIONAL MONUMENTS ACTS, 1930 AND 1954, AND TO PROVIDE FOR CONNECTED MATTERS. [22nd July, 1987]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

1 Definitions.

1.—(1) In this Act—

“the Acts” means the National Monuments Acts, 1930 and 1954;

“archaeological area” means an area which the Commissioners consider to be of archaeological importance but does not include the area of a historic monument standing entered in the Register;

“historic monument” includes a prehistoric monument and any monument associated with the commercial, cultural, economic, industrial, military, religious or social history of the place where it is situated or of the country and also includes all monuments in existence before 1700 A.D. or such later date as the Minister may appoint by regulations;

“underwater heritage order” means an order under section 3 of this Act;

“the Principal Act” means the National Monuments Act, 1930;

“the Register” means the Register of Historic Monuments established under section 5 of this Act;

“restricted area” means an area standing designated in an underwater heritage order;

“sea” includes any area submerged at high water of ordinary spring tides, an estuary or an arm of the sea and the tidal waters of any channel, creek, bay or river, and "sea bed" shall be construed accordingly;

“territorial waters of the State” means the territorial seas of the State for the purposes of the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 1959, and the internal waters of the State for the purposes of that Act;

“wreck” means a vessel, or part of a vessel, lying wrecked on, in or under the sea bed or on or in land covered by water, and any objects contained in or on the vessel and any objects that were formerly contained in or on a vessel and are lying on, in or under the sea bed or on or in land covered by water.

2 Restriction on use of detection devices.

2.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section a person shall not—

or

and

3 Protection of sites of historic wrecks.

3.—(1) Where the Commissioners are satisfied in respect of any place on, in or under the sea bed of the territorial waters of the State or on, in or under the sea bed to which section 2 (1) of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968, applies or on or in land covered by water that—

they may by order (in this section referred to as “an underwater heritage order”) designate an area of the sea bed, or land covered by water, around and including the site as a restricted area.

and a copy so deposited shall be made available for inspection, and may be inspected by members of the public during ordinary office hours,

and

or

4 The Historic Monuments Council.

4.—(1) The Minister shall establish by order a council which shall be known as “the Historic Monuments Council” and is in this section referred to as “the Council”.

and

5 Register of Historic Monuments.

5.—(1) The Commissioners shall cause to be established and maintained a register of historic monuments which shall be known as “the Register of Historic Monuments” and is referred to in this Act as “the Register”.

and which, in their opinion, should be so entered.

the Commissioners shall, as soon as may be, cause the reputed owner and (if the owner is not the occupier) the reputed occupier of the monument or area to be notified in writing of the entry, amendment or deletion as the case may be and, in a case to which paragraph (a) of this subsection applies, of the penalties which may be incurred by a person guilty of an offence under this section or section 2 of this Act.

6 Acquisition of national monuments etc., by Commissioners.

6.—(1) The Commissioners may, with the consent of the Minister, acquire by agreement or compulsorily—

and the Commissioners may so acquire any such monument or land whether they or a local authority are or are not the guardians of the monument and whether a preservation order is or is not in force in regard thereto.

7 Removal of national monuments to museums, etc.

7.—(1) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the owners of a national monument, the Commissioners or the authority (as the case may be) may, if in their opinion they can do so without undue injury to the monument and it is desirable for the protection or preservation of the monument or in the interests of archaeology or for any other reason to do so, and with, in case the authority are the owners of the monument, the consent of the Commissioners, remove the monument or any part of it, and deposit it and keep it deposited in a public museum, or other place, in the State approved of for the time being for the purpose by the Minister.

8 Inspection of historic monuments.

8.—(1) The Commissioners may cause such inspections, investigations and reports as they may direct (either generally or particularly) to be made by their officers, servants, agents or other persons duly authorised by them in that behalf in regard to—

9 Power of Commissioners and local authorities to make bye-laws.

9.—(1) The Commissioners with the approval of the Minister, or a local authority with the approval of the Commissioners, as the case may be, may, for the purposes of their functions under this Act, make bye-laws in relation to any national monument of which they are the owners or the guardians.

10 Acceptance of voluntary contributions.

10.—The Commissioners or a local authority may accept voluntary contributions towards the cost of, or voluntary assistance in the performance of, any of their functions under the National Monuments Acts, 1930 to 1987, or in relation to the carrying out of an archaeological excavation authorised by the Commissioners by licence under section 26 of the Principal Act if the conditions (if any) attached by the donor to the acceptance thereof are not inconsistent with those functions or the carrying out of the excavation.

11 Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act.

11.—Section 2 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

“‘monument’ includes the following, whether above or below the surface of the ground or the water and whether affixed or not affixed to the ground—

  • (a) any artificial or partly artificial building, structure or erection or group of such buildings, structures or erections,

  • (b) any cave, stone or other natural product, whether or not forming part of the ground, that has been artificially carved, sculptured or worked upon or which (where it does not form part of the place where it is) appears to have been purposely put or arranged in position,

  • (c) any, or any part of any, prehistoric or ancient—

    • (i) tomb, grave or burial deposit, or

    • (ii) ritual, industrial or habitation site,

    and

  • (d) any place comprising the remains or traces of any such building, structure or erection, any such cave, stone or natural product or any such tomb, grave, burial deposit or ritual, industrial or habitation site,

situated on land or in the territorial waters of the State, but does not include any building, or part of any building, that is habitually used for ecclesiastical purposes;”,

“‘owner’, when used in relation to a monument or archaeological area, means the person for the time being having such estate or interest in the monument or archaeological area as entitles him to the actual possession and occupation thereof;”,

and

“‘land’ includes land covered by water;”.

12 Amendment of section 12 of Principal Act.

12.—Section 12 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2):

  • “(3) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the owners of a national monument, the Commissioners or the authority, as the case may be, may, in addition to maintaining the monument, carry out such other work and do such other things as they think fit to or at the monument and for thosepurposes they and their officers, workmen, agents and licensees shall have free access to the monument and may for those purposes and for the purpose of such maintenance bring onto and use on any land machinery, vehicles, equipment and materials.”.

13 Amendment of section 14 of Principal Act.

13.—Section 14 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion in subsection (1) of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

  • “(bb) to renovate or restore a national monument without or otherwise than in accordance with the consent hereinafter mentioned, or”.

14 Amendment of section 22 of Principal Act.

14.—Section 22 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of “Historic” for “National” in subsection (1) and the said subsection, as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

15 Amendment of section 23 of Principal Act.

15.—Section 23 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsections for subsection (1):

  • “(1) A person who finds an archaeological object shall, within 4 days after the finding, make a report of it to a member of the Garda Síochána on duty in the district in which the object was found or the Director of the National Museum or a servant or agent of his and shall when making the report state his own name and address, the nature or character of the said object and the time and place at which and the circumstances in which it was found, and shall also, and whether he has or has not made such report as aforesaid, and irrespective of the person to whom he has made the report (if any), give to any member of the Garda Síochána or to the said Director or a servant or agent of his on request any information within his knowledge in relation to the object or the finding thereof and shall permit—

    • (a) any member of the Garda Síochána or the said Director or a servant or agent of his to inspect, examine or photograph the object, and

    • (b) the said Director or a servant or agent of his to take possession of the object.

  • (1A) A member of the Garda Síochána to whom a report under subsection (1) of this section is made shall, without undue delay, notify the said Director, or a servant or agent of his, of the finding to which the report relates and the said Director, or a servant or agent of his duly authorised by him in that behalf, may take possession of the object to which a report under the said subsection (1) relates and the said Director may retain possession of it until the expiration of the period of 6 weeks from the time when the said Director or a servant or agent of his was informed in pursuance of this section of the finding and the Director shall then return the object to the person from whom possession of it was taken under this subsection.”.

16 Amendment of section 26 of Principal Act.

16.—Section 26 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in subsection (2) for “The Commissioners” of “Upon application therefor by any person to the Commissioners and upon being furnished by him with such information in relation to the application as they may reasonably require and after payment to them by the person of such fee (if any) as may be prescribed under section 24 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1987, for the purposes of this section, the Commissioners”, and the said subsection, as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

17 Increase of certain penalties under Principal Act.

17.—(1) Sections 14 (4), 24 (3) and 25 (3) of the Principal Act are hereby amended by the substitution of:

“shall be liable—

  • (a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment, or

  • (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £50,000 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment”

for “shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment”.

“shall be liable—

  • (a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment, or

  • (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £50,000 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment”

for “shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds”.

18 Provisions in relation to officers, servants and agents of Commissioners.

18.—(1) An officer, servant or agent of the Commissioners, or other person duly authorised by them in that behalf, acting in the exercise of powers or the performance of functions or duties, under the National Monuments Acts, 1930 to 1987, shall be authorised in writing by the Commissioners so to act and shall, if so requested by any person affected by his so acting, produce the authorisation for inspection by the person.

19 Registration as burdens affecting registered land of certain matters.

19.—There may be registered under the Registration of Title Act, 1964, in the appropriate register maintained under that Act as a burden affecting registered land (within the meaning of that Act) any of the following, namely:

20 Withholding information regarding archaeological objects.

20.—(1) Where a member of the Garda Síochána—

he may require the person to give him an account of how he came by the object, and if the person fails or refuses, without reasonable excuse, to do so or gives information that he knows to be false or misleading, he shall be guilty of an offence.

21 Duty to give name and address to member of Garda Síochána.

21.—(1) Where a member of the Garda Síochána suspects that a person has committed a specified offence under the National Monuments Acts, 1930 to 1987, and so alleges to the person, the member may demand of the person his name and address and may, if the person refuses to give his name and address or gives a name or address that the member has reasonable grounds for believing to be false or misleading, arrest the person without warrant.

22 Powers of search and seizure.

22.—(1) If a justice of the District Court is satisfied, by information on oath and in writing furnished by a member of the Garda Síochána, that there are reasonable grounds for believing that evidence relating to the commission of an offence under the National Monuments Acts, 1930 to 1987, is to be found in any building or part of a building or in any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or hovercraft or in any other place whatsoever, he may issue to the member a search warrant in relation to such place.

23 Penalties, etc.

23.—(1) A person guilty of an offence under section 2 (other than an offence consisting of a contravention of subsection (1) (c)), 3 (other than an offence consisting of a contravention of subsection (6)) or 5 of this Act shall be liable—

24 Fees.

24.—(1) The Commissioners may, with the consent of the Minister by regulations prescribe fees for the purposes of sections 2 and 3 of this Act and section 26 of the Principal Act.

25 Laying of orders, regulations and bye-laws before Houses of Oireachtas.

25.—Every order, regulation and bye-law made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order, regulation or bye-law, as the case may be, is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order, regulation or bye-law, as the case may be, is laid before it, the order, regulation or bye-law, as the case may be, shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

26 Repeals.

26.—Sections 11, 13, 20 and 21 of the Principal Act and sections 8, 11 and 15 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1954, are hereby repealed.

27 Short title, construction, collective citation and commencement.

27.—(1) This Act may be cited as the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1987.

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