This cannot be the future of monument protection in Ireland

This cannot be the future of heritage conservation and protection in Ireland.

We must now sound the alarm about how poorly looked-after some of Ireland’s most ancient and most precious monuments are, and raise again the matter of how shutting off access to those monuments en masse is not the correct response to incidents of vandalism.

I visited the Carrowkeel cairns on the Bricklieve Mountains in Co. Sligo yesterday, during a day-long tour of the prehistoric monuments of that county with a family from America.

We arrived at the cairns after a 20-minute hike from the car park and were utterly dismayed at the sight that greeted us.

Crush barriers were crudely placed across the entrances of the passages of Cairns G, H and K, with signs reading ‘No entry’, ‘Danger – keep out’ and ‘Do not enter cairns’. These barriers were held down with sand bags.

It this really the best we can do in the face of increased incidents of vandalism at prehistoric monuments – lock everyone else out for the sake of the crimes of a tiny minority? Are these the pictures we want visitors taking of our Neolithic monuments, of which we are rightly very proud?

Where is the meaningful investment in their conservation and protection, and where are the resources for that purpose? It strikes me that heritage conservation is very poorly funded in Ireland, and yet there’s TONNES of money for tourism promotion and initiatives. What’s the use promoting tourism if we shut off all our monuments so that people cannot go and see them?

Where is the middle ground?

Where are the resources?

Where are the staff?

The interior of Cairn T at Loughcrew was closed in the autumn of 2018 over fears that it might collapse – fears prompted by a crack in a passage lintel stone. Where is the long-promised condition survey of that monument? Why, after five and a half years, is it still shut? How long more will it be closed?

I don’t have all the answers about what should be done to both protect our monuments and to ensure access to them. I wish I did. However, Mythical Ireland is an independent entity, not a State-funded body or a branch of Government.

What is the Government of Ireland – which has ultimate responsibility for all this – doing to remedy the situation in the short to medium term?

What are the bodies who look after our Neolithic monuments – namely National Monuments Service and Office of Public Works – doing to make sure that ‘Keep out’ signs and crush barriers are not going to be pictured on the front pages of magazines and websites as a poor reflection of how we look after them?

There are brilliant people working in NMS and OPW. Those at the coalface – for instance, the OPW guides – are all deeply personally invested in their heritage and love what they do. They are not to blame for any of this.

Somewhere, much higher up the line, decisions are being taken – or more often, it would seem, NOT being taken, perhaps because funding and manpower are not available. And that is not good enough.

It has been widely recognised by the likes of Fáilte Ireland, heritage bodies and local authorities that Ireland’s history, heritage and monuments constitute an incalculable resource and help contribute enormously to the economy of this country.

Why then are we failing so miserably when it comes to protecting, preserving and promoting them?

We must do better. And better does not mean closing them all, and barring access. Better means finding a way to protect them while allowing people to visit and enjoy them.

Enough is enough.

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The era of unrestricted access to Ireland's prehistoric passage-tombs is ending

Ancient passage tomb in Sligo vandalised with words and symbols scratched into stones