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POLICY DEVELOPMENT
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1. Richard Forman-Harvard University, Jim Bradley-Belfast Hills, Monica Luengo-ICOMOS-IFLA; 2. Conor Newman (Chairman of the Heritage Council),
Minister John Gormley TD, (Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government) and Michael Starrett, (CEO of Heritage Council) at the
Landscape Conference in Tullamore; 3. LCA CPD Training module in Spanish Point, Co. Clare Sept 2009; 4. Caro-Lynne Ferris-C.A.A.N, Frank Nugent-
Irish Upland Forum; 5. Landscape Conference Tullamore, October 2009; 6. Alison Harvey receiving the I.L.I. President’s award on behalf of the Heritage
Council from David Kirkwood and Karen Foley.
LANDSCAPE CONFERENCE 2009
“Landscape” means an area, as perceived by people,
whose character is the result of the action and
interaction of natural and/or human factors. 10
years on from the successful conference held by the
Heritage Council in 1999 – ‘Towards Polices and
Priorities for the Irish Landscape’, this conference
evaluated progress on the actions that emerged and
the changes and pressures that have shaped the Irish
Landscape. The Conference looked beyond 2009
and assessed how effective our current strategic
legislative provisions are in securing the sustainable
development of our landscape in providing for
effective landscape planning, landscape management
and landscape conservation. The purpose of the
conference was to identify the most appropriate
mechanisms to secure long-term benefits for
communities and their landscapes alike. Examination
of the relevance of landscapes to the lives of the
communities and individuals who live in, work in and
visit all our landscapes on a daily basis was the central
theme discussed.
In addition to the 2009 Conference the following list
illustrates the breadth of landscape oriented work that
Council is undertaking to inform policy development.
• Initiation of the Tara – Skryne Landscape project
in partnership with Meath County Council and
the Department of Environment, Heritage and
Local Government.
• Completion of policy guidance on Historic
Landscape Characterisation which aims to identify
the contribution of the past to the landscape as it
exists in the present.
• In November 2009 Mr John Gormley TD, Minister
for Environment, Heritage and Local Government
formally launched the Brú na Bóinne World
Heritage Site Research Framework which aims
to refocus research in the World Heritage Site to
key areas. Council also commented on Ireland’s
emerging revised Tentative List for World Heritage
Site status.
• New research was undertaken on high nature
value farming in North Connemara and on the
Aran Islands. This was vital in informing Council’s
submission on the new agri-environment scheme
due to replace REPS 4 and on the Common
Agricultural Policy post-2013.
• Development and Introduction of new Multidisciplinary
Landscape Character Assessment
Training Course - this was the recipient of the Irish
Landscape Institute’s President’s Award 2009.
• Launch of National ‘Pilot’ for Village Design
Statements (VDS) Programme II in Julianstown,
County Meath, July 2009.
• Heritage Council Public Realm Plan training for
Heritage Officers and Failte Ireland reps, Clonmel
and Fethard, June 2009;
• Submission to DoEHLG re. Draft Floodrisk
Guidelines, February 2009.
• Publication of booklet - Enhancing Local
Distinctiveness in Irish Villages: Village Design
Statements - The Way Forward? January 2009.
THE HERITAGE COUNCIL 2009 ANNUAL REPORT 7