# Dúchas

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Former Irish State agency

This article is about the former government agency. For the folklore website, see [dúchas.ie](/source/D%C3%BAchas.ie).

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Dúchas" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

**Dúchas**, sometimes Dúchas: The Heritage Service, was an [executive agency](/source/Executive_agency) of the [Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands](/source/Department_of_Arts%2C_Heritage%2C_Gaeltacht_and_the_Islands) of the [Government of Ireland](/source/Government_of_Ireland) responsible for [Heritage management](/source/Heritage_management), including:

- natural heritage (including responsibility for the management of national parks and wildlife)

- built heritage (including [national monuments](/source/National_Monument_(Ireland)) and historic properties).

The agency was established under the Heritage Act 1995 and abolished in 2003 after coming under criticism for restricting development.[1] Its status as an executive agency gave it no separate legal existence and it could be easily abolished without [primary legislation](/source/Primary_legislation), although the abolition was not without controversy.[2] Natural heritage has since been protected by the [National Parks and Wildlife Service](/source/National_Parks_and_Wildlife_Service_(Ireland)) (initially under the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government). Some other functions, such as the protection of historic monuments, reverted to being part of the [Office of Public Works](/source/Office_of_Public_Works).

Since 2020, built and natural heritage have been under the remit of the [Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage](/source/Department_of_Housing%2C_Local_Government_and_Heritage).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Irish_1-0)** ["Days of the Heritage Service are numbered"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160911125146/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-24661092.html). *Irish Times*. 2003. Archived from [the original](https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-24661092.html) on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [McDonald, Frank](/source/Frank_McDonald_(journalist)) (April 2003). ["Break-up of Duchas 'may be unlawful'"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150924191323/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-24680016.html). *[The Irish Times](/source/The_Irish_Times)*. Archived from [the original](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-24680016.html) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2012.

## External links

- [Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage](https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/?referrer=http://www.housing.gov.ie/)

- [National Parks & Wildlife Service](https://npws.ie/)

- [Office of Public Works](http://www.opw.ie)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dúchas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BAchas) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BAchas?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.