The Church in Ireland

July 16, 2007 By Andrew Selkirk Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk

In a fascinating article by Eamon Hedderman on Church and State in the Republic of Ireland, we learn that Article 44 of the Irish Constitution guarantees ‘the rights of every denomination to manage its own affairs’.

However, in AD 2000 Ireland signed up to the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe, and here Article 3 states that ‘Each party (i.e. government) undertakes to take statutory measures to protect the architectural heritage’ (which of course includes churches). Only too late did they realise that the two are contradictory: wouldn’t it be nice if politicians and civil servants were to take the trouble to read these grandiose conventions before signing them?

This opinion comes from CA issue 208

Filed Under: Andrew Selkirk [rps]

About Andrew Selkirk

Andrew Selkirk founded Current Archaeology in 1967 and is now Editor-in-Chief. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was Vice-President of the Royal Archaeological Institute, and has served on the councils of the Prehistoric Society, and the Roman Society. He has a particular interest in amateur archaeology, and is Chairman of the Council for Independent Archaeology which was established to promote archaeology carried out independently of government.
He is currently writing a book, Barbarism and Civilisation, the first drafts of which can be read on the website www.civilization.org.uk