Bordeaux is the 30th World Heritage Site in France to be designated by Unesco. The others include Chartres Cathedral, Mont St Michel, Versailles, Fontainebleau, the Pont du Gard, Avignon, Carcassonne, the Château de Chambord and the banks of the River Seine in Paris.

Britain has 27 World Heritage Sites, ranging from the cities of Bath, Edinburgh and Liverpool to Blenheim Palace, Canterbury Cathedral, Hadrian's Wall, Greenwich, the Tower of London, Saltaire, Stonehenge, Ironbridge, New Lanark and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

Ireland, north and south, has only three: Newgrange, Skellig Michael and the Giant's Causeway. Clonmacnois is a candidate for World Heritage Site designation, but what about Georgian Dublin - especially since its sister cities of Bath and Edinburgh are already designated?

As in the case of every other country with Word Heritage Sites, it is up to the Government to make the nomination.