COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF CLONDALKIN, NEWCASTLE, RATHCOOLE, SAGGART AND BRITTAS AREA COMMITTEE
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
QUESTION NO. 6
QUESTION: Councillor L. de Courcy
To ask the Chief Executive what consideration has been given to the Botherboy area of Saggart as an area of archaeological interest, as mentioned in the attached History of Saggart, was this taken into account when the land was zoned for housing and will any archaeological work be done on the land prior to any housing construction?
REPLY:
The lands at Boherboy were part of the wider Fortunestown Local Area Plan which has now expired. They were initially zoned in two halves, the more eastern half zoned in 1998 or before and the western half zoned in 2004. The government Department dealing with heritage at the time would have informed the requirement or otherwise for either a Zone of Archaeological Potential or the identification of a Record of Monument and Places (RMP). In the case of Boherboy, neither has been identified and as a result none are shown on the current County Development Plan which would have been further informed by the Development Application Unit of the Department and by the website Heritage.ie
Notwithstanding, where there is any probability of archaeology being present on a site a planning condition will be attached. Usually this is on the advice of the Department. For instance, in the case of the LRD application (LRD25A/0012W) for the lands at Boherboy there is a planning condition attached to the Council’s decision to grant as follows:
“12. Archaeology. (a) The developer shall engage a suitably qualified archaeologist (licensed under the National Monuments Acts) to carry out pre-development archaeological testing in areas of proposed ground disturbance and to submit an archaeological impact assessment report for the written agreement of the Planning Authority (following consultation with the Development Applications Unit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage). The testing shall take place in advance of any site preparation works or groundworks (other than those which may be necessary to fulfil this condition, e.g. demolition) including site investigation works / topsoil stripping / site clearance / dredging / underwater works and / or construction works. The report shall include an archaeological impact statement and mitigation strategy. (b) Where archaeological material is shown to be present, avoidance, preservation in-situ, preservation by record [archaeological excavation] and/or monitoring may be required. (c) Any further archaeological mitigation requirements specified by the planning authority, following consultation with the Department, shall be complied with by the developer. No site preparation and/or construction works shall be carried out on site until the archaeologist's report has been submitted to the National Monuments Service and the 7 Planning Authority and approval to proceed is agreed in writing with the planning authority. (d) The planning authority and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage shall be furnished with a final archaeological report describing the results of any subsequent archaeological investigative works and/or monitoring following the completion of all archaeological work on site and the completion of any necessary post excavation work. All resulting and associated archaeological costs shall be borne by the developer. Reason: To ensure the continued preservation (either in situ or by record) of places, caves, sites, features or other objects of archaeological interest.”
It should be noted that this planning application is currently under appeal and a final decision will be made by An Comisiún Pleanála.