1st December 2011, 07:08 PM
It would be an interesting development if this did end in a jail term. Damage to historic monuments, including registered National Monuments sites is not infrequent in Ireland. Traditionally the response has been to insist on re-instatement with archaeological works and supervision, at the cost of the person who did the damage. This can lead to some bizzare situations, such as the Grammer School in Drogheda which 'fell down' mysteriously one night. Eventually a cheap replica was built as part of a large shopping mall. In another case whilst all the fuss was being made about the motorway being dug near the hill of Tara, a local farmer demolished part of Rathmaeve, a massive henge on the western summit of the hill itself. This was subsequently surveyed and then the damaged banks replaced. If this example were to lead to jail time it would be a massive change in how the law is enacted, but I doubt this will happen. The DoE tread softly in rural communities, understandably enough.
Interestingly the maximum fine that can be awarded for damage is quite low so it is actually surprising that more sites don't mysteriously 'fall down' or 'disappear' in the middle of the night. A canny developer may figure out it is far cheaper to take the fine than pay for archaeological works. This would subsequently hamper attempts to get further planning permissions by that developer so I have always figured out that is the safeguard, but if you are a small landowner doing a one off development, why not?
The other classic over in Ireland is when you are sent to do an assessment on a small development, say a few holiday homes or something, and you turn up to find they have already been completed! I have never heard of any sanctions being taken in those cases, but perhaps it does happen. I've lost count of how many times that I've made that phone call though, "Yeah hi, it's Stuart Rathbone here, yeah fine thanks. Um that thing I went to look at...yeah he's already built them...."
Interestingly the maximum fine that can be awarded for damage is quite low so it is actually surprising that more sites don't mysteriously 'fall down' or 'disappear' in the middle of the night. A canny developer may figure out it is far cheaper to take the fine than pay for archaeological works. This would subsequently hamper attempts to get further planning permissions by that developer so I have always figured out that is the safeguard, but if you are a small landowner doing a one off development, why not?
The other classic over in Ireland is when you are sent to do an assessment on a small development, say a few holiday homes or something, and you turn up to find they have already been completed! I have never heard of any sanctions being taken in those cases, but perhaps it does happen. I've lost count of how many times that I've made that phone call though, "Yeah hi, it's Stuart Rathbone here, yeah fine thanks. Um that thing I went to look at...yeah he's already built them...."