Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State with Responsibility for Heritage and Electoral Reform, have announced a new World Heritage Tentative List for Ireland.
The Tentative List is an inventory of natural and cultural heritage sites that may have potential to demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value and are therefore suitable for nomination to the World Heritage List. It is a precondition for nomination that a site must be on the Tentative List for at least one year before work can formally begin on a nomination dossier. This does not necessarily result in the inscription of a site on the World Heritage List.
The new applications sent to UNESCO Paris are:
- The Passage Tomb Landscape of County Sligo
- Transatlantic Cable Ensemble: Valentia-Heart’s Content, County Kerry (a serial transnational nomination with Canada)
- Royal Sites of Ireland: Dún Ailinne County Kildare; Hill of Uisneach, County Westmeath; Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary; Rathcroghan County Roscommon and Tara County Meath; (potential for a serial transboundary nomination to include Emain Macha/Navan Fort, County Armagh).
On the composition of the new Tentative List, Minister of State with Responsibility for the Office of Public Works Patrick O’Donovan, said: “Ireland’s two existing World Heritage Properties managed by the OPW, Brú na Bóinne and Sceilg Mhichíl, hold pride of place in Ireland’s heritage estate. I congratulate those who today are starting on the challenging journey to World Heritage nomination. We in OPW, who care for many of the component elements of these applications, will work alongside you and the Department to bring our expertise to the nomination process and the future management of what we hope will be additional World Heritage Properties in the years to come.”