The heritage section of the Department of the Environment and Local Government yesterday ordered an assessment of the damage done to a major pre-historic coastal promontory fort on the Dingle peninsula, Co Kerry, after some of the series of linear fortification earthwork was flattened during what is believed to be land reclamation activities.
There was no ministerial preservation order on the Dún Mór promontory fort, a major coastal fort in use from around 1000 BC until the early Christian period, a spokesman for the Minister, Mr Cullen, said.
The heritage section had been in discussion with the landowner, Mr Denis Dowd, and there were "detailed discussions" as to the significance of the monument, listed as a national monument, and how the land could be farmed without interference with it.
New legislation is to be introduced shortly and this will see a "root and branch" overhaul of existing legislation in relation to the protection of monuments and how the protection may be enforced, the Minister's spokesman said.
All but 1 per cent of the recorded monuments are on private lands, and the new legislation will address the issue of their protection.
Hundreds of metres of the linear earthwork were found to have been levelled when local tour group leader, Mr Con Moriarty, arrived at the scene to lead a group of tourists to view the fort. However, a standing stone with ogham inscription had not been removed, as was reported initially.
According to Mr Michael Gibbons, a member of the heritage council archaeological committee and an archaeologist with an in-depth knowledge of Dún Mór, the total area of the fort runs to around 80 acres and it is possibly the largest coastal promontory fort in Ireland.