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2 1930

NATIONAL MONUMENTS ACT, 1930

PART III.

Protection and Preservation of National Monuments.

Maintenance of national monuments by the guardians thereof.

12. —(1) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the owners or the guardians of a national monument, the Commissioners or such local authority (as the case may be) shall maintain such monument and shall, in the case of any monument of which they are guardians, have for themselves, their workmen, agents and licensees free access to such monument for the purpose of inspecting it and bringing such materials and doing such acts and things as they may consider necessary or expedient for the maintenance thereof.

(2) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the guardians of a national monument, the Commissioners or such local authority (as the case may be) may agree with the owner of such monument or with any other person for the maintenance of such monument by such owner or other person either at his own expense or at the cost of the Commissioners or such local authority (as the case may be).

Removal of monuments to museums.

13. —(1) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the owners of a national monument which either is not affixed or attached to the ground or though so affixed or attached is capable of being removed without injury to the monument itself or to the ground to which it is affixed or attached, the Commissioners or such local authority (as the case may be) may, if they think it desirable so to do for the protection or preservation of the monument or in the interests of archaeology or for any other reason, remove such monument and deposit and keep deposited the same in some public museum in Saorstát Eireann for the time being approved of by the Minister.

(2) Every national monument deposited under this section in a public museum shall while so deposited be open to inspection by the public in like manner as the other exhibits in such museum.

Prohibition of injury to national monument.

14. —(1) It shall not be lawful for any person (whether he is or is not the owner of the monument or is or is not seised or possessed of an estate or interests therein) to do any of the following things in relation to a national monument of which the Commissioners or a local authority are the owners or the guardians or in respect of which a preservation order is in force, that is to say:—

(a) to demolish or remove wholly or in part or to disfigure, deface, alter, or in any manner injure or interfere with any such national monument without or otherwise than in accordance with the consent hereinafter mentioned, or

(b) to excavate, dig, plough or othewise disturb the ground within, around, or in proximity to any such national monument without or otherwise than in accordance with the consent hereinafter mentioned, or

(c) to sell for exportation or to export any such national monument or any part thereof.

(2) The consent hereinbefore mentioned is, in the case of a national monument of which the Commissioners are the owners or the guardians or in respect of which a preservation order is in force, the consent in writing of the Commissioners and, in the case of a national monument of which a local authority are the owners or the guardians, the joint consent in writing of the Commissioners and such local authority.

(3) The Commissioners and every local authority are hereby respectively authorised to give such consent as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section if and whenever they think it expedient in the interests of archaeology or for any other reason so to do and are hereby further authorised to attach to any such consent all such conditions and restrictions as they think fit.

(4) Every person who does any act or thing in contravention of any of the foregoing provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(5) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section the Court by whom he is so convicted may, at the time of such conviction and in addition to any penalty imposed under this section, order such person, where the Commissioners are the owners or the guardians of the national monument in respect of which the offence was committed or where a preservation order is in force in respect of such monument, to pay to the Commissioners or, where a local authority are the owners or guardians of such monument, to pay to such local authority such sum as the Court shall fix as the reasonable cost of repairing the damage done to such monument by the commission of the offence, and such sum shall be recoverable by the Commissioners or such local authority (as the case may be) as if such sum were a civil debt and such order were a judgment of the Court for the payment of a civil debt, and every such sum when recovered by the Commissioners or such local authority shall be applied by them in repairing the said damage.

(6) Nothing in this section shall operate to authorise the doing of any act in relation to a national monument not owned by the Commissioners or a local authority which, if this section had not been enacted, could not lawfully be done without the consent of the person or all the persons for the time being seised or possessed of such monument or to deprive any such person of any legal remedy which, if this section had not been enacted, he would have had in respect of the doing of such act without his consent.

Advice, etc., by the Commissioners.

15. —(1) The Commissioners may, if requested so to do by the owner of a national monument, give to such owner advice in regard to the treatment, preservation, or repair of such monument.

(2) Where the owner of a national monument executes on the advice or with the approval of the Commissioners any work for the treatment, preservation or repair of a national monument the Commissioners may at the request of such owner, and in the case of a national monument of which they are the guardians, shall whether so requested or not so requested superintend the execution of such work.

(3) The Commissioners shall, unless the Minister for Finance otherwise directs, charge and be paid for advice or superintendence given by them under this section such remuneration as the said Minister shall direct.

Admission of public to national monuments.

16. —(1) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the owners or the guardians of a national monument, the Commissioners or such local authority (as the case may be) shall, subject to the provisions of this section, admit the public to enter on and view such monument upon payment of such (if any) charge for admission and subject to such conditions and limitations as the Commissioners or such local authority shall prescribe.

(2) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the guardians of a national monument by virtue of a deed made under an Act repealed by this Act, the public shall not be admitted to such monument under this section without or otherwise than in accordance with the consent of the owner of such monument given by such deed or otherwise.

(3) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the guardians of a national monument by virtue of a deed made under this Act and containing a prohibition, whether absolute or qualified, against the admission of the public to such, monument, the public shall not be admitted to such monument without or otherwise than in accordance with the consent of the owner of such monument or otherwise than in accordance with the provisions (if any) contained in such deed in relation to such admission.

Burials in national monuments.

17. —(1) Where the Commissioners or a local authority are the owners or the guardians of a national monument which is an ecclesiastical building, the Commissioners may, if and whenever they think it necessary or desirable so to do, by order prohibit the burial (save as is hereinafter mentioned) of the remains of deceased persons within such national monument or within such distance thereof as shall be specified in such order, but no such order shall be made in respect of a national monument of which a local authority are the owners or the guardians save on the application or with the consent of such local authority.

(2) The Commissioners may except from the operation of an order made by them under this section the burial of the remains of such one or more persons specified or identified in such order as they shall think proper, and, where there is in or under a monument in respect of which an order is intended to be made under this section a vault or other burial place in which the remains of deceased owners of such monument and the remains of deceased members of the family of such owners are entitled to be and usually are buried, the Commissioners shall except from the operation of such order the burial of such remains in such vault or other burial place.

(3) Where an order has been made under this section in relation to a national monument it shall not be lawful for any person, without the consent of the Commissioners or the local authority (as the case may be) who are the owners or the guardians of such monument, to erect any headstone, tombstone, railing, or other similar structure on or around any grave within or in the precincts of such monument.

(4) Every person who buries the remains of a deceased person or causes or procures the remains of a deceased person to be buried within or in the precincts of a national monument in contravention of an order made under this section or who erects any headstone, tombstone, railing or other similar structure or causes or procures any such structure to be erected on or around, any grave in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

Placing of tablets on national monuments of historical interest.

18. —The Commissioners or a local authority may, with the consent of the owner of a national monument which is of historical interest and, in the case of a local authority, is situate within their functional area, place or cause to be placed on such national monument a tablet, plate, inscription, or other notice stating the facts in relation to such national monument which give rise to the historical interest thereof.

Control of advertisements on national monuments.

19. —The purposes for which bye-laws may be made under the Advertisements Regulation Act, 1907, shall extend to and include the regulation, restriction and prevention of the exhibition of advertisements on or in any national monument or in such places adjacent to any such monument and in such manner or by such means as to affect injuriously the amenities thereof.