IHBC Yearbook 2017

R E V I E W 31 THE DUBLIN PRINCIPLES THE CONSERVATION CHALLENGE FACING IRELAND’S INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE PAUL McMAHON Paul McMahon provides an insight into conservation principles and training in Ireland, with a particular focus on the role of the Dublin Principles in securing the future of Ireland’s industrial heritage. The charters and conservation principles which the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has produced since its inception in 1965 are recognised throughout the world as best-practice guidelines. Most importantly, they can play an influential role in the adoption of state cultural protection policies. The ICOMOS Ireland review of conservation education and training ( Sustaining our Built Environment , 2009) noted the absence of a role profile for the industrial heritage sector within the ICOMOS 1993 guidelines. In response to the current ICCROM/ICOMOS International Training Committee (ICOMOS CIF) capacity-building agenda and the expanded definition of the cultural heritage, ICOMOS Ireland in association with the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland (IHAI) established an Industrial Heritage National Scientific Committee (IHNSC) which undertook to address the issues raised. The IHNSC promoted the adoption by ICOMOS of The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage’s (TICCIH) Nizhny Tagil Charter for the Industrial Heritage . Following an ICOMOS Advisory Committee meeting in Ireland, the Dublin Principles (Joint ICOMOS-TICCIH Principles for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Sites, Structures, Areas and Landscapes) were ratified in 2011. ICOMOS Ireland and the IHAI have been actively engaged in promoting them. They have particularly targeted their adoption by government, local authorities and other statutory institutions as they provide a focussed framework for the strategic and operational management of our industrial heritage. Following a number of seminars and workshops, the IHNSC, in consultation with the IHAI, proposed a number of actions for capacity building within the heritage sector. In September 2015, adopting the COTAC ‘Understanding Conservation’ training model (see www.understandingconservation. org for details), the IHAI organised and delivered an introductory module on industrial heritage, which focussed particularly on the needs of professionals working in the built heritage environment. The course was run in partnership with ICOMOS Ireland, and was recognised as continuing professional development Ha’penny Bridge, Dublin (Photo: iStock.com/Leonid Andronov)

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=