THE Office of Public Works gave Wicklow County Council clearance to remove a possible Bronze Age site from, its development plan before the surrounding forestry land was rezoned for quarrying.
Two other sites near Glen Ding Wood, Blessington, listed as having archaeological potential, had been "completely removed by quarrying", it was confirmed in a letter from the OPW.
But the chief archaeologist with the National Monuments Service, Mr David Sweetman, has said the site in the rezoned land has archaeological potential, and test excavations on the wetland/pond area must be carried out before any land development begins.
Roadstone Dublin Ltd, which bought 147 acres of State land for quarrying in 1992, applied last November to Wicklow County Council for planning permission to extend its development over an additional 80 acres.
The council rezoned this land from amenity/forestry use to quarrying in September 1996.
This decision came 10 months after the OPW confirmed that the only Sites and Monuments, Records area within the rezoned 80 acres was "not an archaeological site".
A statement issued by Roadstone Dublin Ltd said: "Roadstone is not aware of any sites of historic importance on its Blessington lands which are zoned for future gravel extraction. The company has always (complied) and continues to comply with any planning conditions laid down by the planning authorities."
Meanwhile, officials at the Department of the Environment are investigating the circumstances surrounding the rezoning, following a request from the then minister, Mr Brendan Howlin.
Dr Eoin Grogan of the archaeological Discovery Programme, who made two studies of the area, said he believed quarrying had destroyed three areas of interest listed in the Sites and Monuments Records in Wicklow.
The Minister responsible should order a thorough investigation of the archaeological importance of the area, which is close to the protected Viking site of Rathturtle Moat, to protect sites before investigations, he said.
"Whether or not this, particular site has any archaeological importance can only be determined by further investigation.
"It is boiling down to a dot on a map, but there is archaeological potential in the whole 80 acres," he said.
The OPW, in a letter to Wicklow County Council on November 3rd, 1995, said that Site 2 on its Development Objectives Map (SMR 5:11), initially identified in a desk-based survey in 1986, "may be removed, as it has been confirmed since the production of the Sites and Monuments Record that this particular site is not an archaeological site".
But Mr Sweetman wrote to Wicklow County Council last February stating: "Given the high archaeological potential of ponds and wetlands, archaeological test excavations shall be carried out in the vicinity of the wetland area/ pond to the north north-west of Rathturtle Moat."
Mr Sweetman has stressed, however, that there are 150.000 listed SMRs around the country and that the National Monuments Service has neither the time nor the resources to inspect each one.
"A lot of things on the Sites and Monuments records would be crop marks and even if you went out to inspect them you wouldn't see anything," he said.
A Labour councillor, Mr Thomas Cullen, a former chairman of Wicklow County Council, said it was difficult to have confidence in the OPW's role since it gave the Department of Energy clearance to sell the valuable State land in, 19,91, two years after Dr Grogan's first field study.
"The onus is now on the Minister to, use his powers, to put a preservation order on this site until its value has been properly investigated, said Mr Cullen.
Mr Frank Corcoran chairman of, the Blessington Heritage Trust, said that last year individuals and organisations submitted 1,415 objections to the rezoning to Wicklow Count Council last year.
But the chief planning officer said the OPW had no objections to the rezoning of Glen Ding and the rezoning went ahead.
Mr Corcoran said: "Because of inconsistencies in, statements from the OPW on this matter, those 1,400 informed submissions were rejected, by planning officials and the majority of elected members.
The wetland/pond area listed as SMR 5.11 was a possible gold and bronze deposition lake dating back to the Bronze Age and should be examined carefully to assess its value, said Mr Corcoran.
A preservation order should now be placed on the entire area, he added.
Dr Grogan carried out a field survey on Rathturtle Moat on May 18th, 1989, on behalf of the OPW, and identified the area as one of great historical importance.
He conducted a further and more detailed study in November last year following a request from the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.
This report, which pinpointed the wetland/pond and other possible archaeological sites in the area, was submitted to the archaeological section of the National Monuments and Historic Properties Service for consideration.
The Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht said the service bad, thoroughly examined Dr Grogan's report.
"As a result the site was re-inspected and all aspects reconsidered. The report did not alter the conclusions about various aspects of the site.
"However, this report, has been submitted at the direction of the Minister to Dr Grogan for his observations, which have not yet been received.
Dr Grogan said this week that his observations were made some time ago and he was still waiting for an acknowledgment from the Department.
Three sites listed as SMR 5:1, SMR 5:23 and SMR 5:25 have already been destroyed by quarrying, according to Dr Grogan.
The first site was a possible "enclosure" at the north edge of the area and is thought to have been removed by quarrying in 1990.
The second was identified as a possible archaeological site from an aerial photograph on the 1986 Sites and Monuments Records, but was found to have been destroyed when Dr Grogan conducted his 1989 study.
The other site was an earl hen mound excavated in 1932 by the National Museum details of which were published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland in 1933.
The OPW in its letter to Wicklow County Council stated that SMR 5:23 and SMR 5:25 bad been completely removed by quarrying.