Irish archaeology activity increased in the third quarter of 2014

 

Chart of quarterly Irish excavation licenses issued 2012-14.

The third quarter of 2014 saw an increase in Irish archaeological activity with the largest number of new excavation licenses issued since quarterly tracking commenced in 2012.

In the third quarter of 2014 to the 30th of September there were 153 new excavation licences issued by the National Monuments Service in the Republic of Ireland. This is the largest number of new licenses issued since I began tracking licenses quarterly in 2012. This also represents an increase of 22% in comparison to the 125 licenses issued in the third quarter of 2013.  Overall the first three quarters of 2014 are now running 8% ahead of 2013 with 406 licenses issued compared to 376 in the same period last year.

In addition there were 19 extensions to licences taken out in previous years, and a large increase in the number of Ministerial Consents for excavations which rose to 25 from 10 issued in the second quarter.

The increase in archaeological activity is the result of the expansion in construction output which has been sustained for more than a year. The Ulster Bank Construction PMI Report  for August registered a statistic of 61.4 (a figure above 50 indicates expansion in activity), which indicates a continuing rise in construction activity. If we look at the individual construction sectors, activity in civil engineering at 48.3 continued to fall, but this was outweighed by housing construction at 63.7 and commercial construction at 63.2. The report also noted an increase in new construction orders during August. The picture of expansion is supported by the  Central Statistics Office which has reported an increase in the number of grants of planning permissions in the second quarter of 2014 to 4,149 from 3,368 in the second quarter of 2013, an increase of 23%

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2014. Irish archaeology activity increased in the third quarter of 2014. Dr. Charles Mount Blog, 8 October 2014. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=1432