A leading archaeologist in the west has criticised D·chas, the Heritage Service, for lax "heritage practice" in relation to protection of the fort of D·n Aengus on Inis M≤r.
Part of the fort was damaged during construction work undertaken by the State service, according to the archaeologist, Mr Michael Gibbons.
D·chas denies the claim and says no disturbance was caused to the national monument during work prompted by the foot-and-mouth alert.
Mr Gibbons, who is based in Clifden, is a member of the Heritage Council, and formerly worked with the Office of Public Works. He says that the damage occurred during construction of an emergency metal fence. The land surrounding the fort is owned by a local farmer, and D·chas has right of way over it. However, as part of precautions taken during the disease crisis, it was decided to erect a temporary fence to keep animals away.
The temporary fence proved to be ineffective, and a fixed fence was installed in the bedrock. "The sole alternative was to close D·n Aengus completely during that period," a D·chas spokesman told The Irish Times.
Mr Gibbons says that stones were taken from the fort's chevaux-de-frise to build a link wall with the metal fence.
The distinctive chevaux-de-frise comprises splinters of basalt, which are set at an angle to bar access. It forms an integral part of the D·n Aengus structure, and suggests that the fort was a military monument. Not only was it disturbed, but the bedrock was also damaged by the metal fence, Mr Gibbons says.
Mr Gibbons submitted photographs to D·chas last week to illustrate the damage. Architectural work on such sites should only be undertaken with archaeological supervision - as is required of private developers but D·chas has ignored this in its own locations, he says.
He says that it is "high time" that the 19th-century division - whereby archaeologists are concerned only with below ground matters and architects with buildings surviving above ground - is abandoned.
Rules and regulations should be applied equally across the board, and State and semi-State bodies should not be given leeway, he says.
The spokesman for D·chas said archaeological supervision of architectural or construction work does take place in certain circumstances, but is judged on a site-by-site basis. The clerk of works involved with D·n Aengus would have been very familiar with the location, he added.
In a separate development, Mr Gibbons has discovered an ancient harbour and quay at Cill Einne on Inis M≤r which he describes as an important addition to the growing books of evidence relating to the intertidal zone on this island.
The harbour is visible at low tide, and is located at the end of a sheltered bay where there is an artificially widened channel.
Mr Gibbons says that it confirms that the anchorage was the premier harbour and settlement focus on Arainn from the early Christian period, until it was eclipsed by Cill Ronain in the 19th century.
The O'Briens controlled the port of Aran from the 11th century, with Dermot Mor O'Brien receiving a tribute of wine from Galway Corporation for protecting the city from pirates in 1280.
Although the family was displaced by the O'Flaherty lords of Connemara, some would say that this tradition of "port protection" is still carried on by the O'Brien family who run the ferry links to the three Aran islands.
The Cill Einne harbour comprises a series of quay walls parallel and at right angles to the surviving walls of Arkin castle.
St Enda had established a monastery here in the fifth century, and the Franciscans had a friary from medieval times which was later destroyed by English forces to build a 17th century fort. All the early building were knocked and incorporated into the castle, according to Mr Gibbons, and architectural fragments, including an octagonal late medieval market, litter the area.
Michael Gibbons has recorded several more discoveries during the past summer, when taking walking groups out to the mountains and the islands beyond.
In August, he was out with a group on Omey island when an American pointed to a sharp object sticking out of a sandbank near a midden site or rubbish heap.
The object was extracted with a shell, and turned out to be a seventh-century bronze ringpin with a beautifully decorated head.
"Omey island was clearly a place of considerable importance during the early Christian period, with a number of church sites having associations with St Fechin and St Brendan," Mr Gibbons says. There is also a site called Cnocβn na mBan, or the hill of the women; here, rabbits kick up human bones from time to time while making their burrows. During a four-year programme of research on Connemara middens with Queen's University, Belfast, new sites were discovered extending from Slyne Head to Omey.
Decorated Bronze Age pottery, stone axes, a rare cross bolt and other finds have been noted in these middens, while the only Viking burial site on the west coast was discovered about 40 years ago by Mr Festy Price. The pin unearthed in August may have been left during a Viking raid, Mr Gibbons speculates. He is due to hand it over to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.