The Heritage Council

The Heritage Council was established under The Heritage Act, 1995 and has a broad remit in promoting policy advice across the diversity of Ireland’s heritage, with specific remits in areas such archaeology, architecture, and inland waterways. Details on the Council and its wide arching activities can be found at: www.heritagecouncil.ie.

The 1995 Act also mentions ‘heritage objects’ and the Council has taken this to mean all portable artefacts over twenty-five years old. This has encouraged the Council to develop an accreditation programme for Ireland’s many collecting institutions. This has taken the form of its successful Museum Standards Programme,  which already has some forty museums and collections under its wing. Having being tested through a rigorous pilot phase it is now proving its worth it safeguarding professional standards across institutions, national, Local Authority, and community. The programme is also linked with a post-graduate training programme being delivered by the University of Ulster.

At the core of the Accreditation Programme is the aspiration to safeguard the care and welfare of collections. The Council’s annual Museums and Archives Grants Scheme already promotes preventive conservation and interventive conservation to the best possible standards. The accreditation of conservators is constantly encouraged and the Heritage Council provides active support to professional bodies such as the Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works in Ireland (ICHAWI) and IPCRA. As part of this wish to promote best standards and to raise awareness of conservation excellence the Council has recently introduced a Conservation Award; the first award will be announced in Autumn 2009.