28th January 2013, 11:06 AM
Licensing is just another way of organising things -can't say I fully understand how the UK system works, so I'm not going to compare. But as regards standards I imagine (much like the UK) it's all down to who can quote the cheapest price and what they do when the money runs out.
I think licensing has worked to an extent - but the major problem in Irish archaeology is still one of full publication - licensing has not sorted this out. As regards wages - if what I have heard is correct, there are ground staff out there being paid minimum Irish wage (paying minimum wages means: if we could pay you less we would.) So licensing hasn't helped there.
I'm rambling here - yes we have licensing, I'm in favour of it, but it's no magic bullet. Whether standards here are worse than standards over your side are debatable but the situations seem (to me at least) very comparable.
Anyone I know working in Irish archaeology at the moment (and God knows there aren't many of those) have the same sort of complaints I see posted on this forum.
I think licensing has worked to an extent - but the major problem in Irish archaeology is still one of full publication - licensing has not sorted this out. As regards wages - if what I have heard is correct, there are ground staff out there being paid minimum Irish wage (paying minimum wages means: if we could pay you less we would.) So licensing hasn't helped there.
I'm rambling here - yes we have licensing, I'm in favour of it, but it's no magic bullet. Whether standards here are worse than standards over your side are debatable but the situations seem (to me at least) very comparable.
Anyone I know working in Irish archaeology at the moment (and God knows there aren't many of those) have the same sort of complaints I see posted on this forum.