Under Planning and Development legislation the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is a statutory consultee in relation to potential impacts of any proposed development on the archaeological heritage. This allows the Minister to recommend that archaeological conditions be attached to grants of planning permission, or recommend refusal of planning permission by the planning authority to ensure the protection of the archaeological heritage.
National Monuments Service provides expert advice from an archaeological perspective to planning and other relevant authorities in respect of individual planning, development applications and other projects and plans.
While carrying out its role in the planning process National Monuments Service, on behalf of the Minister, makes every effort to ensure that developmental impacts on the archaeological heritage are mitigated.
More information on archaeology and its interaction with the planning system can be found in the booklet Archaeology and the Planning Process (3.6 MB).
In recent years the Department has put in place codes of practice with agencies involved in the large-scale infrastructural projects which of their nature have significant archaeological implications e.g. ESB Networks, the Irish Concrete Federation, NRA, RPA and Coillte.
For copies of the Codes of Practice please click here.