The Irish Times

The Government should act now, by spending relatively small amounts of money, to save the State's "priceless" architectural heritage, the chief archaeologist with the Heritage Council has said. Mr Charles Mount was speaking as the council published the results of a survey which found that one-third of the State's 27,000 stone structures and monuments were significantly damaged or suffering neglect. One in five is affected by intensive stone decay and one in 10 shows "so much structural damage that they are in danger of collapse".