This isn’t Father Ted... Getting Unesco status at heritage sites is crucial
Councils blamed as monastic sites to miss out on tourist revenue
IRELAND’S most ancient monastic sites have missed out on the prestigious Unesco World Heritage Site designation because some county councils simply failed to engage with the application process, according to Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan.
Ireland has two sites on the full World Heritage list: the Brú na Bóinne remains at Newgrange and surrounding area, and Skellig Michael, off the Kerry coast, which was added in 1996.
The Government announced this week it will consider six historic locations, including the Burren (Clare), Holy Island (also Clare) the Transatlantic Cable Ensemble in Valentia (Kerry), the Royal Sites of Ireland (incorporating Kildare, Westmeath, Tipperary, Roscommon and Meath) the Passage Tomb Landscape of Sligo, and Glendalough Valley (Wicklow) to join the list, which is reviewed at least every 10 years.
In January 2019, the Department of Heritage called for applications to create a new ‘tentative list of World Heritage Properties’ with a June 30, 2021 deadline.
However, it has now emerged that despite a missionary tradition dating back to the Dark Ages, plans to include six world renowned Irish monastic sites on the prestigious list have fallen through.
During the initial process, which began back in 2010, the then-government put in a group application incorporating the monastic sites of Clonmacnoise (Offaly), Glendalough (Wicklow), Durrow (Offaly), Kells (Meath), Monasterboice (Louth) and Inis Cealtra (Clare).
Securing recognition as a Unesco World Heritage Site is a complex process, but can bring economic benefits to remote areas.
According to the Department of
Heritage, a critical qualifying criteria is ‘evidence of local stakeholder support’.
Responding to a parliamentary question from TD Michael McNamara, Minister Noonan blamed a lack of engagement by some councils for the failure to secure Unesco designation. The Minister said: ‘The basis for not anticipating an application for the early medieval monastic sites, other than Glendalough, is because despite huge encouragement there was no engagement with my department by the relevant local authorities in respect of a revised application.’
Mr McNamara told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘This is not Father Ted and the holy stone of Clonrichertstyle stuff. Securing Unesco World
Heritage Site status has huge beneficial implications for often remote areas. A Fáilte Ireland survey recently noted those who come to see the Book of Kells spend more than those who come for a stag weekend.’
Mr McNamara bewailed the lack of farsightedness of some councils, adding: ‘World Heritage Site status brings kudos that no amount of money can buy and, to be blunt, it brings tourists of a certain type.’
One minister said: ‘All this has a Father Ted feel to it. We might have been the cradle of Christian civilisation in the Dark Ages but our councils, it appears, are not quite so enthused about our historic role.’