Development of the recently published Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill 2023

In 2009, after a major review of the policy and practice of archaeology in Ireland, an Expert Advisory Group recommended to the then Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government that the National Monuments Acts be replaced by modernized legislation. This can be considered the origin of the recently published Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill 2023, though the need for complete revision of the legislation has long been recognized and previous work on legislative proposals took place in the early 2000s. A "general scheme" of the proposed legislation (a document containing the general content, policies and principles of the bill) was originally approved by government in 2010.