Countering the profit-driven approach to planning is the aim of a new organisation of historians and academics, which is due to be launched in the next two weeks.
The organisation plans to involve historians, archaeologists and other academics in trying to protect what "is left of our historical environment", the historian, Prof Roy Foster, a member of the new organisation, said before addressing the History Society of Trinity College, Dublin last night.
Academy for Heritage, which is being set up by 20 academics, historians and archaeologists in Ireland, aims to "speak up for heritage", according to Dr David Edwards, Department of History, University College of Cork. The organisation plans to make regular public comments on heritage conservation, he explained. "We insist on having a role in planning," he said.
The moment is ripe for such an organisation, according to Prof Foster, not only because of the number of threatened sites, but also because of "clear evidence from the tribunals and elsewhere how corrupt and careless the entire area of planning has been in the past".
Sites of historical importance which are currently under threat, according to Prof Foster, include No 16 Moore Street, where leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising had their last headquarters before surrendering to British forces; Yeats's house in Rathfarnham; Trim Castle; the medieval pleasure grounds at Leap Castle in Co Offaly; and Tara.
He hopes that the organisation will "draw attention to these outrages and make An Bord Pleanála look very carefully at decisions that have been made by local authorities".
He also called for the establishment of a public body which can oppose planning decisions rather than just make recommendations. An Taisce and Dúchas, which has now become the Heritage Service, have done "a lot of good work" but a public body with "teeth" is needed, he stated.
Public attention needs to be alerted to this issue before it is "too late", according to Mr Foster, who said that our historical, rural and urban environment is being damaged by an "entirely profit-driven approach to planning".
The layers of historical wealth that were once protected by Ireland's poverty are now, ironically, being destroyed by our prosperity, he added.