A national inventory of all buildings of architectural significance in the State which will take 12 years to compile is one of a number of measures contained in a new Bill designed to improve heritage protection.
The Architectural Heritage (National Inventory) and Historic Monuments (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 1998, published on Tuesday, will place the recording of such buildings on a statutory footing.
A systematic recording of the State's architectural heritage began in 1990 but has existed on a non-statutory basis, with no access rights to the interior of buildings. This deficiency is to be rectified in the new Bill, which will provide legal rights of entry to buildings for the purpose of establishing the inventory.
Under the new law, local authorities serving a dangerous building notice on a structure listed in the inventory would be obliged to notify the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.
Where possible, local authorities must also preserve dangerous buildings when carrying out work if the building is listed.
The Minister, Ms de Valera, said it was "vital that a full and detailed record of our national architectural heritage is available to those involved in the protection of the heritage for this and future generations".
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage will identify those buildings which the Minister will recommend to local authorities for protection under new planning legislation.
"The protection of the national architectural heritage must have at its core a comprehensive and detailed record of the stock of buildings which constitute the architectural heritage of the State, and the creation of this record must be made a priority," Ms de Valera said.
As part of the package of measures to protect architectural heritage, a grant scheme to assist the preservation of historic buildings of architectural significance was announced two weeks ago.